MOSCOW'S "TOWN PLAN."

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 45, 23 February 1937, Page 6

MOSCOW'S "TOWN PLAN."

GIGANTIC ENTERPRISE

Work is going forward in Moscow on the "Palace of Soviets," apparently to be the tallest building in the world. 1350 feet high, surmounted by a 260-foot statue of ]>nin. mid one and a half times the height of the Kiffel Tower. The building, which has foundations that cover about 24 acre* and a hall to accommodate 20,000 people, is part < f tlie tenyear plan to reconstruct the Soviet capital. This plan was finally passed on .luly 10, I!W.->. and the work of turning Moscow into a model city of 5,(100,000 inhabitants van at once accelerated. The total area at present i«< about "0.000 acres, with a population of .{.700.000. The boundaries are to be extended to embrace approximately 150,000 acres, but the population is to be limited to 5,000.000. The Moscow of 1945 (reports a "Times" correspondent) will have five concentric green '•rings."• in the innermost of which will stand the Kremlin. The existing Boulevard Ring and (Jarden King are to be completed and another Boulevard Ring, a Park Ring, and the Great (ireen Forest Belt are to be constructed outside. Tn all directions the distance from the centre to the Forest Belt will be about seven miles. Like a Spider's Web. Three wide main roads are to bisect the rinsj system, crossing each other at a point near the Kremlin, and thus giving central traffic siv arterial routes by which to reach the countryside. Their construction will mean the demolition of many houses and the laying of new streets, and make the plan of the future Moscow like ,< spider's web. All the street*, roads and squares are to be covered with asphalt. The surface area to be asphalted by 1H43 i« calculated at about 2">00 acres. Old Moscow has many low homee of two or three storeys. Many of these are to disappear, their places being taken by open space*, monuments, public buildings and blocks of dwelling houses of from six to 14 storeys. All unhealthy and dangerous enterprises arc being moved to the outskirts, and few factories will be left inside the area now encircled by the Garden Ring. Xo new industrial enterprises are to be established within the precincts of new Moscow. On the sites of the demolished building** large new dwelling honees are to be erected. The average ground area covered by each will be approximately •one and a half acres. Some 2500 are to be build by 1945. Other buildings to be erected include a number of hoepitals, schools, cinemas, r=i\- new hotels with 4000 rooms, 14 large "departmental stores" and eleven bridges. Inland Port. Several existing bridges are to be raised to facilitate river traffic, for Moscow is being converted into an inland port. According to the plan large steamers will carry freight and passengers between the Port of Moscow and distant part* of the Soviet Union. This ie to be made possible by means of the 80-mile Volga-Moscow Ship <'anal, now nearly finished, which will also give Moscow a new water supply system. Pipes are already being laid. The new water pipes, gae pipes and electric cables are to be laid in common conduits so that they can be checked and repaired without breaking the asphalt. Five railway terminus stations will be grouped outside and around the Garden Ring, all, except one, two miles from the centre and all linked up by a "railway ring" encircling the town by surface lines and tunnels inside the Forest Belt. The local railways are to be electrified. The extension of the Underground Railway is proceeding at high pressure. The first eight-mile stretch was opened in May of 1035. The programme for surface passenger traffic appears modest by contrast. The plan, available only for the firet three years, provides for 2050 tramcars, 1000 trolley buses, 1500 motor buses and 2500 taxi*.