Moscow, as I pointed out in an earlier post, is quite a good city for pedestrians. There are high-quality sidewalks nearly everywhere, and there are lots of people using them. The enormously varied and generally attractive built environment guarantees that pedestrians will be entertained. And drivers can be relied on to defer to pedestrians when pedestrians have the right-of-way, which they do at crosswalks. I certainly wouldn’t claim that things are perfect, however. There are huge amounts of highly-polluting traffic along many major streets. Crossing these streets often requires a tunnel, which you enter and exit by stairs. Where there is no tunnel, it’s expected that pedestrians will obey traffic signals, which can take a long time to change; countdown clocks often have three digits. Widespread automobile ownership in Moscow has definitely lowered the quality of pedestrian life in the city, and there has not been as much pushback as there has been in, for example, parts of Western Europe. Still, things are much better than they were in the first decade and a half or so after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In addition to sidewalks, there are a certain number of actual pedestrian (and bicycling) facilities in central Moscow, some of which have been improved enormously in the last few years. I made a point of looking at these in the course of a recent trip to Moscow.
Map of central Moscow, emphasizing pedestrian and bicycling facilities and urban rail lines. Base GIS data are from the Geofabrik version of OpenStreetMap; these data have been heavily edited.
The most striking such facility is a set of paths along the Moscow River, stretching mostly on the south bank from the Bol’shoĭ Kamennyĭ Bridge in Zamoskvorech’e through Gor’kiĭ Park then around a substantial river meander past the Neskuchnyĭ Garden and the Vorob’ëbyĭ Hills to the Third Ring Road, for a total distance of approximately 8 km. For nearly all this distance there are separate bicycle and pedestrian corridors.
The parallel paths along the south bank of the Moscow River. The pedestrian path is at the left, close to the river; the bicycle path and service road are at the right. Lenin Beach, a sunbathing area, lies in between. At far right is a shop where bicycles can be rented.
Part of the bicycle path consists of two one-way lanes painted along a well-maintained service road. This really is a service road, but it’s used only by a tiny number of motor vehicles. Many pedestrians—especially runners and skaters—prefer using the service road to using the pedestrian path, which can get quite crowded at certain times.
Pedestrian path along the south bank of the Moscow River on a chilly Sunday afternoon in September.
The parallel bicycle and pedestrian paths pass by numerous landmarks, for example, a group of industrial buildings on or across from Bolotnyĭ Island that have been turned into restaurants and art galleries; a fantastically ugly statue of Peter the Great; the New Tret’i͡akov Gallery (for 20th-century art); Gor’kiĭ Park with its numerous amusements; and Lenin Beach, a major sunning spot. There are several bridges across the river including two for pedestrians only and two for trains that contain pedestrian paths. These were joined just last year by a cable car line.
The enclosed pedestrian bridge at the south end of Gor’kiĭ Park. Photograph taken September 2016.
Because the river bends so dramatically, the view keeps changing. Off in the distance, one can see such landmarks as Moscow University, Moskva-Siti, and the newly reconstructed Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The river is often filled with boats. The stretch of the Moscow River with parallel bicycle and pedestrian paths is a distinctive and attractive place.
There is also a pedestrian/bicycle trail on the river’s north bank, but this doesn’t go all the way. The problem is that there’s a major road along much of the north bank. There’s often a substantial sidewalk between the road and the river, but, because of traffic noise and pollution, the sidewalk is not as pleasant as the carfree path across the river. (There’s a similar issue from, roughly, the Kremlin east; major roads hug nearly the entire riverfront.) Still, the north bank path does allow one to arrange a loop. (The pedestrian path is not noted on the map since it’s essentially a sidewalk.)
The north bank of the Moscow River just east of the Kremlin. Here, only a sidewalk is available for walking along the river.
The other major pedestrian thoroughfare in central Moscow is the long-existing Boulevard Ring (it was created the 1820s). If one doesn’t count the squares around the Kremlin, this is the closest-in of several concentric ring roads in Moscow. Despite the use of the term “ring,” the Boulevard Ring forms only a semi-circle: it runs at a distance of approximately 1.5 km from Saint Basil’s and Red Square north of the river only. The term “Boulevard Ring” is an unofficial one. Components of the Boulevard Ring go by several different official names. What connects them is the fact that they all have a similar structure: a linear park is bordered by two one-way roads. The park has enough vegetation so you aren’t particularly aware of traffic if you walk through it. The parks in the Boulevard Ring aren’t just pedestrian thoroughfares. They’re also used for art exhibitions and for public events, and they serve as pleasant places to sit.
Along the Boulevard Ring. The exhibit is devoted to new Metro stations.
The ring is interrupted at several places, once (at the Arbat) for a highway underpass, once for a parking lot, and in several places by buildings. There are also places where a pond and an archaeological site take up much of the park. Still, it’s not hard to walk around the entire ring, although you do face a long wait for certain traffic lights to change and must use tunnels in a couple of places. The hegemony of the automobile is pretty apparent even in this most pedestrian-oriented of Moscow’s thoroughfares.
A parking lot and restaurant interrupt the Boulevard Ring where it’s crossed by T͡Svetnoĭ Boulevard.
Central Moscow also has a number of pedestrianized streets. Several of the commercial strips off Tverskai͡a Street north of Red Square and the Kremlin, for example, have become pedestrian-only as have a group of streets stretching east-west past the main subway stations in the Zamoskvorech’e district south of the river.
One of the pedestrianized streets in the Zamoskvorech’e district.
Red Square itself is a huge pedestrianized space, always filled with tourists and passersby.
There’s also some parkland in central Moscow, including the brand new Zari͡ad’e Park, designed in part by the American architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, which is not much like a traditional city park: it’s full of things to do, many of which cost money. One of its claims to fame is that its vegetation cover has been divided into several zones, each of which is planted with species like those in one of Russia’s major ecological regions. At least it’s free to walk in the vegetated spaces, and lots of people do.
The tundra area in the brand-new Zari͡ad’e Park. Saint Basil’s Cathedral can be seen in the background.
Moscow, like many of the world’s cities, has been trying to encourage bicycling. It’s set up a bike-share program, for example, and the linear park along the Moscow River described above includes high-quality bike paths that get a substantial amount of use. Elsewhere in central Moscow, conditions are perhaps not so ideal, but there are places where the authorities have tried to accommodate bicycles. One of central Moscow’s few continuous bike paths can be found in the roads that border the Boulevard Ring. It consists of narrow lanes painted in the streets. It’s probably somewhat dangerous, and it certainly isn’t used much. When I’ve tried to photograph it, I’ve had to wait a long time for a bicycle to come along. There are more motorcycles and scooters than bicycles.
One of the rare cyclists in the bicycle lane that follows the Boulevard Ring.
There are also bicycle facilities along two of north-south streets in Zamoskvorech’e. One street (Bol’shai͡a Ordynka Street) has a painted lane on which cyclists are expected to go in the opposite direction as motor traffic, and parallel Pi͡atnit͡skai͡a Street has a two-way bike path painted on its sidewalk. Both of these facilities attract a modest amount of use, much of it by meal delivery cyclists.
Bicycle path on Pi͡atnit͡skai͡a Street, Zamoskvorech’e.
There are similar sidewalk bicycle paths here and there north of Red Square, for example along Bol’shai͡a Nikitskai͡a Street. Moscow isn’t much like, say, Berlin, but it does have at least a few streets where bicyclists are encouraged to share sidewalks with pedestrians.
The sidewalk bicycle path along Bol’shai͡a Nikitskai͡a Street where it crosses the Boulevard Ring.
Moscow, like many of the world’s other major cities, has been devoting some energy in recent years to developing and promoting alternatives to the automobile. Most of its effort has gone into expanding its excellent Metro and improving its suburban railway network. Moscow has also enhanced its pedestrian facilities in certain places, particularly in central Moscow, an increasingly gentrified area that promises something resembling a Western European environment to tourists and to those who can afford to live there. Central Moscow’s modest but reasonable pedestrian facilities are an important component of the area’s appeal.