On the section of the Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD), which passes over the residential area of Kanonersky Island, additional noise protection measures will be carried out, says a letter from the administration of the Kirovsky district to a resident of the island, local activist Gleb Chipiga. This information on the site was confirmed by WHSD JSC (a city-owned company that serves as the WHSD customer).
After traffic was launched along the central section of the WHSD, residents of Kanonersky Island began to complain about round-the-clock noise. Measurements carried out by Rospotrebnadzor showed that the permissible levels of noise exposure were exceeded. In addition to residential buildings, a new kindergarten built by WHSD JSC was in the high noise zone. As the site previously reported, residents of Kanonersky Island have been waiting for its opening for the second year. In the existing kindergarten, due to the construction of the WHSD, one of the buildings had to be closed and children are forced to attend “enlarged” groups.
A year ago, Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko visited Kanonersky Island. Local residents told him about the problems of the kindergarten and he instructed him to take action. After this, additional noise barriers were installed on the WHSD.
As it turned out from a letter from the district administration, this did not help; the noise level was still exceeded. The problem was discussed on July 10 at the Kirov district prosecutor's office. Options for noise protection for the kindergarten or the route itself were considered. WHSD JSC came to the conclusion that the first option would not be effective. Therefore, it is proposed to install sound-absorbing panels under the ceiling of the lower tier of the WHSD. According to the site, this option was considered a year ago, but was not implemented.
Additional noise protection measures will be carried out at the expense of extra-budgetary funds, the press service of WHSD JSC reported to the site.
The company did not name a specific source of financing, the amount of costs, or the time frame for completing the work. According to available information, a company representative will report on all this on September 1 at the district prosecutor's office.
The administration of the Kirovsky district and the Northern Capital Highway (MSS) company were unable to provide immediate comment. Let us note that it was MSS that ordered the WHSD project, which was supposed to take into account the negative impact of the facility on the environment. In addition, this company built and now operates the route.
Let us add that none of the parties to the process says anything about the situation in residential buildings located less than a hundred meters from the WHSD. People in them continue to suffer from noise. JSC WHSD could only explain that measurements of the level of noise impact are carried out on Kanonersky Island regularly. But what their results are at the moment remains unknown.
Residents of houses on both sides of the WHSD on Vasilievsky Island rebelled en masse against the noise. They want double protection from the hum of the WHSD, the exceeding of the maximum permissible level of which experts have not identified. At the same time, they nod to the experience of requiring additional noise barriers. Only they could not save the Gunboat from the sounds of the toll road.
The active phase of the battle against noise from the Central Section of the WHSD began only in the second year of its operation. Now among the “stunned” are residents of the Morskaya Embankment quarter and new buildings in alluvial areas.
“Since officials do not hear individual complaints from residents, we are launching a collective petition. We demand that soundproofing screens be installed along the entire length along the Vasileostrovsky section of the WHSD, which runs in a semi-tunnel along residential areas on Morskaya Embankment and alluvial areas. It is also necessary to carry out landscaping that will absorb noise and dirt and reduce the level of gas pollution,” activists demand.
Vasileostrovtsy residents decided to create a petition and, having collected the maximum number of signatures under it, draw the attention of the authorities to the problem.
Infographics Moika78
The petition was addressed to the Governor of St. Petersburg Georgy Poltavchenko, the Northern Capital Highway company and WHSD JSC. The text of the petition includes complaints from residents of the alluvium and Morskaya Embankment from social networks, and answers from officials are given.
“In real life, people hear with their own ears the mistakes of designers and the obvious excess of the permissible noise level,” the petition reads.
Meanwhile, LLC MSS Moyke78 stated that the noise level in the zone of influence of the WHSD is measured quarterly at points established by the design documentation. And no excesses have been recorded so far.
“Measurements are carried out by an accredited testing laboratory. No exceedances of the maximum permissible noise levels established by current sanitary standards were detected in the residential area on Vasilievsky Island,” MSS claims.
They emphasized that they did everything possible to protect against noise even during construction: the highway runs in a recess - an open half-tunnel, acoustic screens were installed, and special noise-proof windows with ventilation valves were installed in the apartments of the houses located in the Central Section routing area. They, according to MSS, allow you to ventilate rooms without letting in noise.
WHSD on Kanonersky Island. Photo: baltphoto/ Valentin Egorshin
Thirdly, the gunners are completely dissatisfied with the installed additional acoustic screens, call them profanation and continue to complain about the unbearable noise.
So the experience of gunboats, which happen almost every week, is not the best example for Vasileostrovsk residents who decided to start a war against the noise from the toll road. They will have to look for new effective ways of communication with the authorities and the concessionaire. And to prove that the WHSD through a small green square makes noise and interferes in the same way as the WHSD practically above the roof of a house.
Since the launch of the Western High-Speed Diameter (WHSD), a major highway running through the whole of St. Petersburg, life on Kanonersky Island has changed dramatically: from a quiet isolated microdistrict it has turned into one of the noisiest places in the city. Nevertheless, the residents of Kanonerka do not want to leave the island and defend their rights in all available ways. “Taki Dela” talked to activists from the house closest to the WHSD, who spend 24 hours a day listening to the roar of the highway.
“We lived like at a resort”
Kanonerka is a small island in the Kirovsky district of St. Petersburg, located between the Sea Canal and the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Since Peter the Great's time, industrial facilities have been located here, and a permanent population appeared only in the 60s of the 20th century, when typical five-story buildings were built on the island for workers of nearby enterprises. At that time, it was separated from the “mainland”; a ferry ran between the Sea Port and the Gunboat. The underwater tunnel connecting the island with St. Petersburg appeared only in the mid-80s, and in the 90s, due to the problems of local enterprises and tourists pouring here, the territory began to gradually decline.
“As a child, we lived like at a resort, - natives of the island Elena Tsygankova and Natalya Avdeeva recall. - Zand the last house here was the beginning of the swamp, there were boat sheds, sheds with hay and rabbits, at the end of the island some had vegetable gardens. We were cut off from the city, and then a tunnel was built - and everything came to an end. Gradually the summer pilgrimage began, and the WHSD completed the picture and made life here almost unbearable.”
Houses on Kanonersky Island, located next to the WHSDPhoto: Alexander BelokurovIt was decided to build the Western High-Speed Diameter, a chord highway connecting the northern and southern regions of St. Petersburg, back in the early 2000s. It was then that the project of laying the central part of the route through Kanonersky Island appeared. This idea immediately caused rejection among local residents, who feared that the appearance of a huge road above their heads would negatively affect their quality of life. However, the authorities managed to convince 4 thousand islanders that the route would be quiet and safe.
Tsygankova, who even before the start of construction campaigned for her neighbors to advocate for the relocation of the WHSD, recalls that at that time in front of the office of the head of the Kirovsky district, Sergei Ivanov, there was a model of the future highway. In it, the lower part of the Winchester tunnel passing over the Gunboat was completely covered with soundproofing screens, and the fences on the upper part were much higher than they turned out to be in reality.
“They literally took everything out”
Despite the well-founded doubts of St. Petersburg residents, in 2013 the project for the central section of the WHSD successfully passed public hearings, and contractors began construction. Work on Kanonersky Island was carried out around the clock and even then did not allow residents of nearby houses to sleep. In addition, from a height of 60 meters, where construction was going on, production waste fell down onto Kanonerka: bolts, nuts, spent grinding wheels and even sewage, and one day a loader with a worker inside fell off the road.
The bombing continues now: Tsygankova periodically collects fallen objects under the highway (for example, nuts, a paint brush and a wheel cap) and plans to donate her collection to city officials.
Elena Tsygankova holds in her hands a collection of objects that fell from the WHSDPhoto: Alexander Belokurov
Another disaster for the islanders was the resettlement of houses that fell into the sanitary zone of the WHSD. The principles of the formation of this zone are not completely clear even now. The Northern Capital Highways (MSS), the company that manages the road, explained to activists that even at the design stage, their specialists took measurements on a similar site and decided to resettle the houses closest to the road, No. 15 and 17 on Kanonersky Island, as well as half resettlement of two other houses standing perpendicular to the WHSD. Thus, the sanitary zone took the shape of the letter “P”, and house No. 14, whose residents suffer most from noise, did not fall within its boundaries.
At the same time, the houses that had been resettled were not going to be demolished, but were transferred to the maneuverable fund of St. Petersburg, forcing the previous residents to leave all the plumbing fixtures, gas stoves and interior items in their apartments. However, almost immediately all this, according to the testimony of local residents, was stolen by looters:
“I live on the fifth floor and one night I heard: “Bang!” What's happened? It turns out they threw the bathtub out of the window. There was a truck right there, they quickly loaded everything up and left. In the end, literally everything was taken out, even the batteries were cut off,” says Natalya Avdeeva, a resident of house No. 14.Now the fifteenth house does not look at all like a potential housing from the maneuverable fund. It has become a haven for lovers of abandoned buildings and homeless people. People make fires in it, which leads to regular fires: in July of this year alone, the house burned down three times. Local residents do not enter the occupied house, but activists carried out noise measurements in it using a special application on a smartphone. It turned out that in this building the noise level was 10 dB lower than in residential building No. 14. Moreover, all the windows in the occupied apartments had long been broken, and in No. 14 there are double-glazed windows. Thus, the designers made a serious mistake when creating the sanitary zone.
"We just want silence"
Most gunners did not join the protest struggle until December 2016, when the central section of the WHSD opened for transport. Then all the islanders ran out of patience. The road was completed in a hurry - the construction of the last section took only three years - and activists suspect that the builders were the last to monitor compliance with sanitary safety measures. They indicate that the road surface was not protected from below with special soundproofing layers and
They laid regular, not rubberized, asphalt in the central section, which could have absorbed part of the load. As a result, the monotonous rumble of the highway was supplemented by the harsh impacts of the wheels on the road joints.“I remember how in December, two years ago, I suddenly heard a rumble outside the window, as if an airport was starting to operate nearby, and I didn’t understand what was happening. And then it turned out that they started a movement and that now it will always be like this,” - says Tsygankova.
According to residents, the sounds of the WHSD on Kanonersky Island sometimes reach such a level that it is difficult to hear an interlocutor standing a few meters away, or a car approaching from behind. Activists note that the noise level depends on the time of year and day: quieter in summer, louder in winter and autumn, including due to studded tires. Now the WHSD is not the busiest road in St. Petersburg, but the load is gradually increasing, gunners say.
Noise also penetrates into houses, despite the special windows installed by MCC, which differ from ordinary double-glazed windows only in the presence of small ventilation valves. In winter, these valves become covered with ice, and in summer, the windows still have to be opened to ventilate the apartments.
This state of affairs forced residents to contact supervisory authorities en masse: the first complaints were filed in the spring of 2017. However, the inspection initiated by the islanders, which Rospotrebnadzor employees tried to conduct in the fall, failed due to work on the WHSD: road workers blocked several lanes of traffic, and the noise load, accordingly, decreased. Nevertheless, in October, Rospotrebnadzor, accompanied by activists and media representatives, nevertheless conducted a full-fledged inspection, the results of which turned out to be logical: the agency identified significant excesses of acceptable indicators.
Settled house No. 15Photo: Alexander Belokurov
Thus, the noise load in the courtyard of house No. 14, with a standard of 60 dB, exceeded 70 dB. Independent measurements show even higher values - up to 90 dB, which is truly comparable to the noise made by an airliner taking off.
As a result of the inspection, Rospotrebnadzor filed a lawsuit against Northern Capital Highways demanding that the violations be eliminated. MSS denied their guilt for a long time, but in the end, by March 2018, they installed additional protective screens on the lower tier of the WHSD, which, however, did not have a significant impact on the noise level.
Measurements by activists show that under the highway it became quieter by only 1-2 dB. Therefore, the problem remains unresolved and the road owner is still obligated to fix it. True, MCC does not agree with this statement: the company is now challenging in court the order of Rospotrebnadzor and the very fact of the administrative offense. The latest meeting at the moment did not bring any results, and the next ones are scheduled for the end of August and the beginning of September, when, with the return of St. Petersburg residents from vacation, traffic along the WHSD will become even more active and noisy.
An inscription in front of a house on Kanonersky Island made by activistsPhoto: Alexander Belokurov
A month ago, Kanonersky Island activists, using the experience of their colleagues from Remeslennaya Street, reminded of themselves with inscriptions on the asphalt in the courtyard of the most problematic building: “Save our ears!” and “We are dying because of the WHSD,” and several more actions are planned for the end of the summer. The fighters for their rights do not know how exactly rescue from the highway should be implemented, citing the fact that they are not engineers. To the question:
“What do you want to achieve as a result of the struggle?” - answer: "We just want silence" .NOISE TORTURE
On the morning of July 1, residents of building 14 on Kanonersky Island saw a manifesto under their windows: “Save our ears. We are dying because of the WHSD.” The author of the inscription is not known, but most likely it is one of the locals who simply lost their nerve. The fact is that for the past year and a half people have been “tortured” by the roar of a two-level highway that never stops for a second. It passes almost over their heads - at an altitude of 50 meters from the ground.
- Rospotrebnadzor carried out noise measurements in the apartments of building 14 (from it to the supports of the WHSD - about 60 meters - author's note), revealed that the permissible standards were exceeded. Northern Capital Highway LLC, the management company of the WHSD, was ordered to eliminate the violations. But it avoids this in every possible way and is appealing the order in the courts,” explains Gleb Chipiga, a resident of the neighboring house 13, local activist.
After the residents of Kanonerka began en masse to complain to all authorities about the unbearable noise, additional noise-reducing screens were installed on the WHSD.
But, in my opinion, nothing much has changed,” Gleb sighs.
According to the KP journalists who visited the courtyards on the island, the incessant hum is similar to a psychological weapon used to harass the aborigines remaining on Kanonerka.
Several houses located in the immediate vicinity of the highway supports were resettled during the construction of the WHSD. Then migrant workers and people without a fixed place of residence lived in them. Trucks are still hauling sand from the Speedway construction site. Along the way, it blows right into a school and kindergarten. The Turkish general contractor GATI was fined 150 thousand for this. But this didn’t make it any easier for the residents of Kanonerka.
EXTREMELY CLOSE AND EXTREMELY LOUD
For some reason, without our knowledge or consent, without any logic, they decided to move the WHSD past our houses,” Alexandra Kaznacheeva is indignant.
She has lived in house 14 since her birth, in 1977. At that time, Kanonerka was still completely cut off from the city.
It was quiet and nice here. We moved to the mainland by ferry or river bus. They ran on schedule, like trains. On the other side they landed at the sea trading port. Everyone had passes. The arrival of guests had to be coordinated in advance. Only in 1984 the tunnel was opened. Of course, it became more convenient to travel to the city, but since then many strangers began to come to us.
Alexandra and I met on the playground. She went out for a walk with her little son Vanya. He is almost the same age as ZSD.
He never lived in silence. Born in November 2016, I saw the last days of construction, and then they opened a passage along the diameter,” recalls Alexandra. - I remember that day. I heard a hum, I didn’t even immediately understand what it was. I asked my husband if it was really a hurricane. But it turned out that the transport was allowed in. And since then this noise has not stopped, day or night.
All residents of nearby houses had double-glazed windows installed. But they don't really help.
Why is the WHSD a blessing for the entire city, but we - a bunch of people who lived here in peace and quiet - must suffer for everyone? - Alexandra is perplexed. - We are the same townspeople, law-abiding citizens, but no one cares about us, as if we were third-class citizens.
R.S. Press secretary of Northern Capital Highway LLC Andrei Tsapu was unable to promptly explain the situation, citing the fact that “their company does not comment on the inscriptions on the asphalt.” Previously, MCC stated that the route was built in full accordance with the approved project.
The central section of the Western High-Speed Diameter opened in St. Petersburg a couple of days ago. While some are happy that the commute to work has been halved, others - residents of Kanonersky Island, where the WHSD was built literally above residential buildings - were instantly deafened by the flow of passing cars. Our special correspondent Camilla Jha went to the island to assess the situation and talk to the locals.
“Comrade citizens, we’ll pass on the fare,” shouts the driver of minibus No. 66 and noisily pours change into cleverly adapted containers for “Piskarevskaya” sour cream. ─ Let’s pass, you can drive standing. Yes, it goes to Kanonersky Island. 40 rubles. Let's go: I'm closing the doors!
The driver of our minibus shouts phrases, drowning out the chanson of his radio, and with every second everything that happens begins to resemble the middle of the last century. Kirov Plant, a rectangular metro building with a row of massive columns, “citizens” and “comrades”.
Many people in the minibus actually travel standing - otherwise it is difficult to get to Kanonersky Island. If you don’t have a personal car, you first have to take the metro to Narvskaya station, then spend 10-15 minutes (if there are no traffic jams) to your destination.
After two hours spent on Kanonersky, you stop paying attention to the noise of the WHSD. The streets of the island are completely empty: rare passers-by ─ young parents with children or pensioners ─ try to cover the path to home or the nearest grocery store as quickly as possible. It’s understandable: you hardly want to go outside. Only a few agree to talk to journalists. And they insistently ask not to use their real name in the text. And the offer to take a photograph is rejected without hesitation: “You never know, why take the risk.”
─ No, Pasha, we won’t go to the site. ─ very close by, a young girl is pulling a toddler towards the road. The pink-cheeked boy rips his fist out of his mother's hand and, stumbling and sliding on the unstable ground, runs to the swing.
─ Well, what are you going to do with him, ─ the girl shakes her head and turns to me, ─ Okay, let him play a little, right? Her name is Olga, she and Pasha live in the relatively new Kanonersky house, and have not left the island for more than 2 years. “I don’t feel well in the city,” Olya explains embarrassedly, “But here there is freedom for a child: clean air, a sandy beach in the summer.” Olya enthusiastically talks about how good she and Pasha are here, and then suddenly she seems to remember: “But now I’m uneasy because of this hanging road. At first they built it - I was afraid, God forbid, that something would fall on our heads. Now I'm worried that it will fall off completely. I don't like this road, even though the city needs it. I’m worried about my son, but no one gives guarantees.”
“Naturally, dentures!”
The wipers seem to be cleaning the paths near the Gulf of Finland, but it still doesn’t make walking any easier. Along narrow paths, alternately stepping over snow masses and slipping on icy ground, dog walkers walk their pets.
─ Jackie, where is “mom”? Bring it to “mom” quickly! – a tall woman in a puffy down jacket and a hat with a pompom pats her knees. ─ Jackie, go to “mom”! Where is "mom"?
The one called Jackie stretches out on all fours, holding a stick in his mouth and tilting his head to the side.
─ What a stupid dog, “go to mommy”! What are you worth?
When we finally get out of the snowdrift, the WHSD again hangs across the sky before our eyes.
“In general, they did a good job, of course,” says Jackie’s mother, Irina, shaking off the snow. She has a low chest voice and treats women without age. - Only they did this thing badly. In the city, as soon as some element of architecture falls out of the overall picture, that’s it. And what's that? Naturally, dentures! No, am I wrong?
Irina gestures widely and talks a lot. Along the way, he takes the piece of wood from Jackie and throws it again on both sides of the road. In parting, he extends his hand to me and sighs:
─ In general, nothing can be corrected: everything has been built, the movement has been launched. Just let them come up with some kind of noise suppression. Anything is better than this.
"The sky is the same for all"
─ In fact, everything is not bad,” assures the saleswoman in a nearby store, ─ It was really noisy while they were building. And now it’s okay, take it easy. Or we just got used to it. The worst houses are 15th, 16th, 17th. And another 12th, although only one building. They are located directly under the highway. But they promise to completely resettle them by 2020.
─ They promise by the twentieth, and they will resettle by the thirtieth, ─ an elderly lady joins the conversation. Apparently, she wants to keep up the conversation, or this is just a way to delay the moment when she has to leave the warm store onto a noisy street. In any case, she stands next to her, leans on her wand and smiles:
─ It remains to be seen whether we will catch this or not.
“They will resettle, I believe, they promised,” the saleswoman objects softly but confidently.
Her optimism in life is inspiring, although perhaps she just truly knows how to believe.
─ They said that if housing is not privatized, they will give you an apartment in a new building. And if it is privatized, then they will evaluate it and resettle it after the fact. My apartment has not been privatized, but I live far from the WHSD and am not subject to resettlement. Yes, I don’t even hear any noise, to be honest.
─ I can hear, ─ the elderly lady responds, making herself more comfortable in the passage, ─ When I open the window, everything in the apartment is buzzing.
─ Seriously? “You live in the seventh house, it’s far away,” the saleswoman is perplexed.
─ What difference does it make, in the seventh or eighth. The sky is the same for everyone.
“They’ll get used to it sooner or later”
After a quarter of an hour, you have to leave the warm store and go outside. During this time, the already icy wind only became stronger, and an obsessive thought begins to spin in my head that it would be great to erect a high fence on the island on the canal side, like the fortress wall in Avignon. How wonderfully it would protect against whirlwinds...
─ Daughter, why without a hat? ─ shouts the grandfather wearing earflaps and with a long white beard. ─Aren’t you cold?
The bearded man introduces himself as Evgeny Leonidovich, chides me for not wearing gloves and, pointing at the camera, asks what I’m doing.
“I’ll tell you now,” he nods. I am 75 years old and I have been living in this house for almost half a century, ─ Evgeniy Leonidovich waves his hand towards the yellow Stalin era, ─ My wife and I worked here, at the ship repair yard, and we like it here. Now we have come to terms, or rather, we had to come to terms. Because resist, don’t resist, and nothing will change. When they built this road and thundered through the entire district around the clock, then, probably, there was still a point in fighting. Yes, we fought: we wrote to all authorities, asking them not to make noise. What's the point? We send a letter to the administration, for example. One night it will be quiet, we will sleep peacefully. And the next time it’s all over again.
Evgeny Leonidovich smiles at the cold sun and squints, rays of wrinkles begin to play around his eyes. He turns his gaze to the highway suspended in the air and strokes his beard.
Do you want to know how we live with this new highway instead of the sky? This is new to you: they opened the highway, the media immediately remembered it. But for us it is old - we have been living there for several years. Why are you journalists interested now? The road had already been built, no one asked our opinion. Nothing will change. In a few years, probably, they will resettle all the houses that do not fall under sanitary standards, or they will come up with something else, another way out. But from now on everything will be like this. And sooner or later, they will get used to this WHSD.
