Residents block courtyard with concrete hemispheres over traffic chaos
Residents of apartment blocks in the area bounded by Kaslinskaya, Ostrovsky, Sverdlovsky and Komsomolsky prospects, located next to the metro tram construction site, are outraged by the traffic jams in their courtyards. The owners of one building even resorted to an extreme measure — they blocked the driveway with concrete hemispheres, and now a queue of violators forms in front of their high-rise. They don«t yet know how else to deal with the unwanted flow of cars. Details and the response from the traffic police are in our article.
«The traffic jam stretched from Komsomolsky Prospect»
The first to contact the 74.RU editorial office were drivers who got stuck in traffic jams in the blocked courtyard this week.
«Not only is Kaslinskaya closed due to the metro tram construction, with terrible traffic jams, but now the driveway in the courtyards is also blocked,» complains one of them. «Before, you could cut through the courtyard from Komsomolsky, but now it»s become completely unbearable!«
A 74.RU journalist visited the site and spoke with residents who are already having a hard time due to the construction right under their windows.
«I appealed directly to the governor, I wanted to know which genius started building a metro tram just five meters from residential buildings? It»s just outrageous!« fumed a female resident. »The noise is incredible from morning till night. Plaster is starting to fall off in the houses, cracks are appearing.«
And after traffic on Kaslinskaya was closed, according to residents, it became simply dangerous to leave home.
«Chaos began here. We wrote to the prosecutor»s office, to «Reshaem Vmeste» (Solving Together), to the traffic police, inspectors came, they detained about 30 cars once. But the problem is not solved! Recently a person was hit, three days ago I was almost hit. We have become hostages of the metro tram,« a resident says.
«Yesterday I»m walking, an SUV comes speeding, at least slow down!« another resident joins the conversation. »The driver swore at me, they just don«t understand anything. There»s a «Residential Zone» sign, and in general through traffic via courtyards is prohibited, but they keep pushing through. They act like it«s a war zone here!»
Tired of the endless stream of cars in the courtyard, residents of the building at Kaslinskaya, 26 blocked the driveway with red concrete hemispheres.
«We want to get through to drivers that they should use the road that is intended for that. We live here, and it»s impossible to get out of the entrance,« says a resident.
According to him, after Kaslinskaya was closed, even navigation apps were routing traffic through their courtyard, but this week the route disappeared from the maps. However, drivers accustomed to bypassing traffic jams through the courtyard still appear, but there are fewer of them.
«Now 0.1% of cars remain. And before that it was scary — the traffic jam stretched from Komsomolsky Prospect,» the man says. «The traffic police could put up prohibition signs, then there would be fewer cars.»
«Now they have to put up with cars on the sidewalk»
However, the problem persists in other buildings in the block, with cars driving on sidewalks in some places.
«Now drivers have started bypassing via the sidewalk between the »Vsya Meditsina« (All Medicine) clinic and the building at Sverdlovsky Prospect, 7. The residents of the building at Kaslinskaya, 26 can be understood, but at least there is a road and a courtyard driveway there, but the residents of the building on Sverdlovsky now have to put up with cars on the sidewalk, that seems over the top,» fumes a resident of building No. 7.
What the traffic police say
The Chelyabinsk State Traffic Safety Inspectorate (GAI) says that the residents of the three-story building at Kaslinskaya, 26 did not coordinate blocking the courtyard with the traffic police, nor were they required to, as the courtyard area belongs to the property of the apartment building owners. As for the chaos with detours in the block, they promised to look into it.
«The State Traffic Inspectorate has sent letters of a recommendatory nature to the Chelyabinsk administration and the Main Housing Inspectorate of the region regarding the organization of traffic in this section,» the GAI reported.
To recap, traffic on Kaslinskaya (from Komsomolsky Prospect to Ostrovsky) was closed at the end of December until June 2027 for the construction of the launch pit for the North–South metro tram line.
And last autumn we reported on how people live near the metro tram construction site on Pobedy (Victory) Prospect. The temporary tram line will run right under their windows.
All news about Chelyabinsk«s »construction of the century« — in the special section of 74.RU.
