Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The ongoing transformation of Navoi Avenue was criticized by the domestic media and residents of the city, in connection with which the well-known urbanist and transport expert Arkady Gershman was invited to work on the project.

On 15 March 2022, a press conference was held in the city khokimiyat dedicated to the updated project for the reconstruction of Navoi Avenue. Arkady Gershman told the participants about the work done and made a presentation in which the priorities were arranged according to the scheme adopted in many cities: in the first place - the interests of the most defenseless road users - pedestrians, in the second - public transport, and only in the third - cars.

Arkady Gershman spoke about the tools of "tactical urbanism" and cited as an example temporary plastic posts that create safety islands, contrast lighting at pedestrian crossings, which is necessary at night and visible to the driver, as well as the advantages of ground pedestrian crossings in urban environments before aboveground and underground.

As for unregulated crossings, they are acceptable only for single-lane traffic, while traffic lights are required on a road with two or more lanes. According to the project, huge areas with indistinct traffic are reduced to understandable lanes, as is done at the intersection near the Circus and on Chorsu Square: traffic is divided into fixed directions by “safety islands” and phases of traffic lights, which makes the movement more intuitive, clearer, more efficient and ensures safety traffic for motorists and pedestrians. The movement of cars is also normalized by the allocation of a separate lane for turning left, one of the most problematic elements of traffic.

Arkady Gershman, as well as the head of the Tashkent Project Office under the Ministry of Transport Murad Abidov and the head of the Tashkent Transport Department Anvar Juraev answered questions from journalists.

- Pedestrian safety islands will not be an obstacle for emergency vehicles, provided that ambulances and fire trucks are moving, because they can use dedicated lanes for public transport.

- Bottlenecks for pedestrians on Fargona Yuli Street will be reviewed in terms of their refinement, taking into account the convenience of pedestrians.

-Inconvenient junction at Aktepe Square will be redone. At the moment, all interested structures are considering four options for the reconstruction of the area.

- The arrival of cars on a dedicated bus lane will be punished with fines, now technical means of photo and video recording are being prepared for this.

- Due to difficult U-turns on Navoi Avenue, it is planned to organize U-turns near the Circus, as well as at all pedestrian crossings.