Skip to main content

Moscow wins international transport award for tackling traffic gridlock

The city of Moscow has been awarded the International Transport Forum (ITF) 2016 Transport Achievement Award for its exemplary approach to improving traffic conditions in the Russian capital. Following twenty years of almost uncontrolled development of urban traffic, Moscow introduced a rigorous and comprehensive set of policies to address the gridlock on its streets. These included paid car parking, development of public transport, ticketing, car sharing and taxi reform, development of cycling and envi
May 19, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The city of Moscow has been awarded the 998 International Transport Forum (ITF) 2016 Transport Achievement Award for its exemplary approach to improving traffic conditions in the Russian capital.

Following twenty years of almost uncontrolled development of urban traffic, Moscow introduced a rigorous and comprehensive set of policies to address the gridlock on its streets. These included paid car parking, development of public transport, ticketing, car sharing and taxi reform, development of cycling and environmental requirements for trucks.

Over the past five years, these measures have reduced the number of cars in central Moscow by 25 per cent and increased the average speed of traffic by 12 per cent, despite 600 new cars being registered in the city each day.

In 2013, Moscow traffic was ranked as worst in the world by the 1692 TomTom Traffic Index; the 2016 edition has moved it to fifth place.

The ITF jury recognised the “impressive achievement in improving overall traffic in Moscow.” In particular, the jurors highlighted “the effectiveness of coherent, coordinated initiatives and policy actions that facilitated this remarkable change.”

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Speed reduction measures - carrot or stick?
    January 23, 2012
    In Sweden, marketing company DDB Stockholm employed a mock speed camera as part of a promotional campaign for automotive manufacturer Volkswagen. The result was worldwide online interest and promotion of the debate over excessive speed to the national level. A developing trend in traffic management policy is to look at how to induce road users to modify their behaviour by incentivising change rather than forcing it through the application of penalties. There have been several studies conducted into this; an
  • Reducing congestion with Tomtom's historical traffic data
    December 5, 2012
    Historical traffic data provided by TomTom is being used by the local government in Spain’s Basque region to reduce road congestion at less cost. Old habits die hard. Photos from as far back as the 1930s show people counting cars by the roadside in order to provide congestion data to those running road networks. Today, such techniques are still used, albeit augmented by a range of automation technologies such as inductive loops, infra-red sensors and number plate recognition. Even with these advances, howe
  • The weighty problem of truck routing enforcement
    March 17, 2015
    The growing impact of heavy commercial vehicles on urban and interurban highway infrastructures around the world is driving the need for reliable route access restriction and monitoring. The support role of enforcement is proving fertile ground for ITS development. Bridges are especially vulnerable – and critical in terms of travel delays. The US state of Oregon’s Department of Transportation (ODOT) operates what it claims is one of the country’s most aggressive truck route restriction enforcement programme
  • US eyes European model for Illinois toll road upgrade
    May 30, 2014
    David Crawford welcomes the adoption of European-style ITS technology by the US. The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Illinois, US is well on the way towards becoming a ‘smart traffic corridor’, taking full advantage of active traffic management (ATM or ‘managed lanes’) technology that originated in Europe. It is one of the first American toll roads to do so; preliminary work began in 2014 and will continue through to 2016. Jane Addams is one of four toll roads operated by the publicly-owned Illinois State T