Traffic in Moscow virtually came to a standstill Monday morning due to heavy snowfall overnight, with the congestion earning 9 out of 10 points on the widely used Yandex.Traffic scale.
According to the Yandex service, the average speed on the Moscow Ring Road was 10 to 30 kilometers per hour on all routes leading into the city center due to accidents caused by low visibility and icy roads.
There were collisions on Volgogradsky Prospekt, Ryazansky Prospekt and Shosse Entuziastov, among other thoroughfares. A 20-kilometer traffic jam was recorded on Altufevskoye Shosse, in the north of the city, Interfax reported.
Many metro passengers had an equally tough time in their commutes. Tussles and overcrowding were reported on the Purple Line, evidently because many travelers were hoping to avoid traffic on the roads by opting for the metro.
Local airports continued to operate according to schedule, however.
Sunday night’s snowfall added another 6 to 12 centimeters of snow to the city’s already snowy and icy roads. The city deployed more than 15,000 snow-removal machines, and all of them were working around-the-clock.
The snow tapered off Monday afternoon, and forecasters said there likely won't be more major snowfalls in the coming days. On Tuesday, the temperature is set to drop to around minus 14 degrees Celsius during the day.
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