Back in the USSR, due to the growing load on city streets, as in other countries at that time, large-scale construction of underground crossings began. Why underground? Because they do not greatly violate the architectural appearance of cities, unlike land-based ones. Two more pluses are the ability to combine them with exits from metro stations, and they are the most convenient and safe for pedestrians.
What is a pedestrian underpass?
The crossing is a tunnel under the carriageway of a street or railway with steps leading to it. Steps are often equipped with gentle paths for the convenience of descending bicycles, wheelchairs and children.
During the period of the Soviet Union, they had only functional significance for pedestrian crossing, and after the collapse of the country, they began to install billboards, stalls, shops.
There are cases when large underground passages were converted intoshopping centers. In such cases, the entrances to the crossings are closed at night. In the subways of large cities, exits from stations often turn into underground passages. The metro of most cities is built in a similar way.
There are a lot of abandoned and unfinished crossings in cities, which diggers are often interested in.
According to the projects of many city planners, there are places that can only be reached through underground passages. There is such a place in Berlin - a square in the Tiergarten park, because this area is surrounded on all sides by a roadway. And in Simferopol there is a similar passage under the square of Amet-Khan Sultan. All its tunnels lead to an open underground square with stalls (central market). There are similar crossings in other cities.
Underpasses - ways to solve problems
One of the most effective ways to solve such problems is the development of underground space. World practice testifies to this.
In Russia, large objects of various purposes are being built underground. These are tunnels, parking lots, garages, industrial premises, warehouses, lines of combination with metro stations. Crossings for pedestrians are also being built in large volumes in order to ensure the safety of people and unload the ground part of city streets.
Construction of underground passages, requirements
The complexity and considerable level of responsibility of such underground structures, their great influence on the already existing surrounding structures put forward requirements, the observance of which is very important in the design and construction of these facilities.
Main ofthem:
1) Careful study of soil properties to a great depth, development of forecasts of all possible changes in their state, as well as examination of the foundations of nearby objects.
2) Technologies used in the construction of underground facilities must ensure the safety of the surrounding objects (monuments of history and architecture). To do this, it is desirable to use mathematical modeling of changes in the state of the soil massif.
3) The most important and paramount condition is the protection of the erected underground structures from groundwater.
European crossings
Unlike in Russia, underpasses on city streets are very rare in Western countries.
There are, of course, crossings combined with subway stations, which mainly perform the function of crossing to the right side of the street. Usually these countries use ground crossings.
Let's look at several cities in Europe.
London is a city comparable in size (population) to Moscow. There, just as in Russia, there is a problem of separating large flows of pedestrians and a huge amount of transport. Everything is decided differently there. There are about 300 crossings in this city (2 times less than in Moscow). The main direction in the country is the replacement of all crossings with street crossings, where possible.
Paris is also comparable to Moscow. However, in the center of Paris, there are no underground and ground crossings at all, except for those combined with metro stations. People cross a multi-lane street on a zebra.
Same with Rome, Florence and Stockholm.
Transitions of the capital of Russia
Moscow, in addition to unique monuments of architecture and museums located on the surface, also has peculiar sights among underground objects, including pedestrian crossings.
On October 16, 1959, the first underground passage for people was built in Moscow. Since then, there have been many of them, and some of them can be called a work of art. Many underground passages in Moscow keep the memory of the past.
Unusual, unique transitions of Moscow
In the passage near the House-Museum named after Marina Tsvetaeva, you can read numerous quotes and aphorisms of this great poetess. Moreover, everything is decorated using not only Russian, but also several Western European languages, which indicates the global significance of the work of a talented poetess.
Thus, the transition performs two functions: popularization of the works of a genius and a tribute to the amazing poetess.
The crossing on Vozdvizhenka is another homage to the great writer, where the designers have created a very informative and beautiful spectacle dedicated to Gogol. On the walls you can see the most famous philosophical quotes of the classic.
An unusual and creative approach is used by many authors when designing underground passages.
At the Museum of Moscow, the transition is like a window into the last century. Here you can walk near the artisans,merchants, old people and many other people of the city from past eras. Talented artists here recreated the atmosphere of the early twentieth century.
The transition near the Mayakovsky Museum was decorated using photographic materials. Employees of this cultural institution hung photographs of the poet on the vaults of the passage, depicting him from infancy to the last months of his life. Autobiographical excerpts from the work “I myself” are also presented here, simply in separate phrases. Those who are interested will find the continuation of the statements themselves. Very instructive and informative.
Today, there is an increase in the construction of underground passages all over the world, especially in large cities. This is due to the fact that the concentration of the population in cities and the number of car parks are constantly growing. And the latter contributes to the emergence of almost all modern urban problems - environmental, territorial, transport and energy.
