In the village of Hriada in the Lviv community, residents have been offered an alternative location where it is technically possible to arrange a convenient and safe public transport stop on the international M-09 Ternopil — Lviv — Rava-Ruska road, which is currently being reconstructed. This was the result of a protest, during which people temporarily blocked traffic on the road.
According to the director of the Office for Agglomeration and Community Development of Lviv City Council, Nataliia Alieksieieva, the reconstruction of the road has been under way since last year, with the client for the works being the State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine. The working project did not take into account the proposals of Hriada residents regarding road safety and access to public transport, in particular the arrangement of two stops and the installation of traffic lights. Lviv City Council and representatives of the agglomeration have repeatedly appealed to the client and the contractor, the company “Onur”, asking them to change the decision.
At present, Hriada has only one stop in the direction of Lviv. Because of this, children, older people and persons with disabilities are forced to walk long distances along the verge of a busy road. Residents stress that due to the village’s difficult terrain and its division into upper and lower parts, getting to the stop is already not easy, and under the current project it is planned to move it even further away from residential buildings. At public hearings, people were shown a detailed plan of the area providing for two stops — towards Rava-Ruska and towards Lviv — but these solutions are not reflected in the working project for the major overhaul.
During the protest, residents blocked the pedestrian crossing on the road, demanding that access to public transport be preserved and that traffic lights be installed. They emphasise that once the road is widened to three or four lanes, traffic will become even heavier, and without additional safety measures it will be dangerous to cross.
The lead engineer of the Service for Restoration and Infrastructure Development in Lviv Region, Volodymyr Sharvan, assured residents that the client for the works is not ignoring the community’s interests, but is looking for technically feasible solutions that will meet safety requirements. According to him, some of the proposals set out in the detailed plan of the area cannot be implemented due to regulatory constraints, but specialists have prepared another option for the location of the stop.
After the protest, residents were invited to a meeting with representatives of technical supervision. During the discussion, they were shown an alternative location for the stop which, according to specialists, will be convenient and accessible for most villagers. All updated drawings and proposals that take into account the community’s interests will be sent to Kyiv for approval. If they are endorsed, the contractor will be able to start work on arranging the new stop.