The Garden Ring, also known as the “B” Ring, is a circular ring roadavenue around central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century.
The Ring consists of seventeen individually named streets and fifteen squares. It has a circumference of 16 kilometers (9.9 mi). At its narrowest point, Krymsky Bridge, the Ring has six lanes. After finishing reconstruction, all sections of the Ring will not have more than 10 lanes. In 2018, more than 50% of sections of the Garden Ring are reconstructed, including Zubovskaya square, which was the widest section, there were about 18 lanes before. The Ring emerged in the 1820s, replacing fortifications, in the form of ramparts, that were no longer of military value.
The Garden Ring is a direct descendant of the Skorodom and Earth Rampart fortifications, respectively. Said fortifications were erected in the reign of Feodor I of Russia after a disastrous raid by Ğazı II Giray (1591). Although Boris Godunov, then the de facto> regent of Russia, was able to prevent Crimean Tatars from taking the city north of Moskva River, he anticipated future raids and arranged construction of another ring of defenses.
1935 Joseph Stalin‘s master plan of Moscow provided for expansion of Garden Ring to at least 30–40 meter width, and demolition of buildings set at the ends of Garden Ring boulevards to create wide open squares. Grand Stalinist buildings, envisioned on all the ring, were initially planned only for major squares like Kursky Rail Terminal Square and Triumphalnaya Square. However, one end-of-boulevard block survives, precisely on Triumphalnaya Square, atop the six-lane tunnel. The same plan required removal of tram tracks in line with Moscow Metro construction. In fact, the removal of tram tracks proceeded well in advance of subway construction; by 1938, tram remained only in southern and south-eastern segments of the Ring (this segment was closed in 1961).
Stalinist construction proceeded after World War II, notably the three skyscrapers (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Kudrinskaya Square and Red Gates Square buildings of 1947–1954). However, no part of the Ring was completely rebuilt in Stalinist style (or any other style). Any street of the Ring is a mixture of different style and sizes, from single-story 1820s mansions to recently built shopping malls and the 162-meter Swissotel in Red Hills (2005).
From the 1990s till 2010, the city government has proposed conversion of the Garden Ring to a one-way street, completely separated from radial street traffic. The public and professionals equally reject the idea of a one-way, 18-lane street.
Since 2010, with the arrival of the new city government, these plans were canceled. In 2016 a new reconstruction began. Trolleybus traffic was eliminated and replaced by diesel buses. All the unnecessarily wide sections of the Ring were narrowed down to 10 lanes, the width of each lane was also reduced and the sidewalks were expanded. All the overhead cables were dismantled and moved underground.
