I. Metshin: “We need to keep the roads in the proper state with all the means at our disposal”

(KZN.RU, October 8). From 10 to 15 of October, special interdepartmental commissions will check the readiness of the bases of Kazan enterprises responding to the winter maintenance of roads, equipment, and their staffing. Igor Kulyazhev, the deputy head of the Executive Committee and the chairman of the Committee for External Improvement, reported at the Business Monday on the business cleaning in the current season, as well as on the availability of special equipment.

Igor Kulyazhev said that next week, Kazan will switch to the winter maintenance of the road network. He said that the work will be around the clock. The city will carry out an adjustment of the route maps of the work of the cleaning equipment, prepare places for receiving snow, reagents and sand-salt mixture. The winter schedule for road services in Kazan will last 182 days until April 14, 2019.

It is planned to prevent the formation of ice with the use of reagents and sand-salt mixture. For the second year, a two-phase reagent with wetting technology will be used on all the main trunk roads with greater traffic intensity, availability of public transport routes and bridges. Today, it is the most effective method of dealing with ice on the roads. However, it is also more costly than a sand-salt mixture and other types of reagents, noted I. Kulyazhev.

“This is a very important question, but it depends on money as always. Only Moscow can afford to use such reagents on the sidewalks. As a result, they have the lowest number of injuries received by pedestrians on the roads, despite the fact that there is a huge load to pedestrian parts”, said Ilsur Metshin, the Mayor of Kazan.

The ensuring proper maintenance of pedestrian pavements and stopping places remains under special control. A special attention will be paid to the prevention of ice on potentially dangerous areas such as descents, climbs, bridges and bus-stops. The Mayor of Kazan urged colleagues from the Committee for External Improvement, management companies, heads of districts, as well as all building owners whose territories fall under their responsibility, to hold meetings on this issue in order to meet the winter fully prepared.

The Deputy Head of the Executive Committee reported that 80% of the winter cleaning equipment had been prepared for work in winter conditions in Kazan. Over the last two years, 37 units of new modern equipment were purchased for municipal road enterprises of Kazan, 26 units were overhauled thanks to the support of the President of the RT. This made it possible to extend the use of machines and reduce the financial burden on enterprises. In case of a sudden deterioration in weather conditions, an operational plan “Buran” was prepared to combat snow drifts, which will allow to attract up to a thousand units of road machinery. Due to the introduction of new bus routes, the route maps of the cleaning equipment were adjusted. As for the staff of road workers, today it is staffed by 80%. All snow melting points are practically prepared for works on receiving and utilization of snow, current routine maintenance is being completed.

The Mayor of Kazan noted that the amount of equipment that was thoroughly repaired, purchased, will help to remove any amount of snow in a timely manner. “This is always a lot of work. We hope that we will do without feats. Timely organized work will allow us to cope with the challenges that each winter sets us”, e said.

“No miracle will happen. Therefore, we need all the means we have at our disposal to maintain both the main roads, the roads of the first, second and third categories, our settlements, pedestrian crossings, and tourist routes in the proper state, worthy of the high title of the capital of the RT”, said I. Metshin.