TRAM STATIONS: RECONSTRUCTION AND RESTRUCTURING (ON THE EXAMPLE OF THE CENTRAL PART OF LVIV)

An analysis of the reconstruction and restructuring of the tram stops formed in the second half of the twentieth century in Lviv in the context of the inter-highway territories planning change on the example of the central part of the city. The urban planning approaches to the reconstruction of the inter-highway territories and the square in front of the main railway station of the city are shown.

Tram connections in Lviv have a long history, dating from the late nineteenth century when in 1894 the regular movement of the electric tram on the line “Main Railway Station - Stryiskyi Park” began. The tram network reached its greatest development in the first half of the twentieth century. At the same time, it should be noted that this was particularly true of the central part of the city where the tram ring was formed. Radial directions were laid to the semicircle by main streets, and thus the western, northern and eastern peripheral sectors of the city were connected to the centre of Lviv.

During the 1950s - 1980s, a large part of the tram tracks in the centre of Lviv were dismantled given the increasing conflicts with car traffic and the partial replacement of the tram by trolleybus.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the development of motorization (especially after the radical socio-economic transformations of 1991) caused a sharp increase in traffic in the centre of Lviv. It should be noticed that the predominance of radial directions and lack of annular connections in the configuration of the street network of the central part of the city formed in the 19th century was preserved. In many narrow streets, the simultaneous movement of trams and cars has led to a significant slowdown in traffic and interlocking at public transport stops. A partial solution to the problem was seen in changing some sections of the tram track and relocating some tram stops with their reconstruction.

In this context, the urban planning aspects of the relocation of tram stops on separate sections of the historical part of the city are analyzed: between the radial parallel Doroshenko and Copernicus Streets; between the radial Horodotska and Shevchenko Streets; Dvirtseva Square in front of Lviv Main Railway Station and Chernivetska Street.

The tram in Lviv is one of the most promising types of public transport: in the conditions of a constant increase of fuel prices, difficult terrain of the city and high tram capacity, this type of public transport proved to be the most efficient in Lviv. In the central part of the city, it is important to improve the general conditions of traffic on narrow streets. An important reserve here is the use of even small sections of inter-highway territories located between the main streets.