Crimean bridge. Opening traffic for cars

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

How in just two years the Crimean bridge was built, 19 kilometers long. The movement of cars on it will begin early in the morning on May 16.

Today, May 15, in the presence of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the grand opening of the automobile bridge across the Kerch Strait will take place. The movement of cars on it will begin the next day - May 16 at 5.30 Moscow time.

The Crimean bridge is one of the largest in Russia. Its length is 19 km. It consists of parallel road (two lanes in each direction) and railway (one track) tracks. The bridge begins on the Taman Peninsula, runs along the existing 5-kilometer dam and Tuzla Island, and then crosses the Kerch Strait and goes to the Crimean coast.

The road bridge was built six months ahead of schedule. However, while the passage through it will be open only for cars and public transport. The trucks are expected to be admitted to the bridge this fall. Commissioning of the railway bridge, which is being built parallel to the road, is scheduled for December 2019.

Why do you need a bridge

For the first time, the idea of building a bridge appeared more than 100 years ago. But the project was started only after the annexation of Crimea to Russia. Before that, it was more convenient to get to the peninsula through Ukraine. But the latter, after the loss of Crimea, announced its complete blockade, stopping not only transport links, but also any supplies, including electricity and water. In fact, the peninsula has turned into an island.

The project is due not so much to economic as to political reasons, says Mikhail Blinkin, director of the HSE Institute of Transport. Crimea could do with a system of ferries, former head of the Sevastopol Legislative Assembly Alexei Chaly told Forbes earlier. But this is an irregular mode of transport. Sometimes you have to wait for ferries for hours, and in case of bad weather, the crossing is completely closed.

Until now, two-thirds of tourists arrived in Crimea via a ferry, says Pavel Chistyakov, vice president of the Center for Infrastructure Economics. Therefore, according to him, it was important to provide a comfortable way of transportation. Now you can drive from one coast to the other in just 15 minutes.

How the project was chosen

Before choosing a specific option and determining the estimate, the experts considered 74 options for the transport passage, recalls the head of Rosavtodor Roman Starovoit. Among them was a two-tiered bridge and an underwater tunnel along the bottom of the Kerch Strait at a depth of 100 m, but the choice fell on a bridge crossing in the Tuzla section. The bridge could have been much shorter if it had been built in the area of the Chushka Spit, where the ferry crossing is now located. But this option did not work because of the tectonic fault and mud volcanoes located there. In addition, the construction would completely stop the operation of the ferry, Starovoit says.

In February 2016, the project of the Crimean Bridge received a positive conclusion from Glavgosexpertiza. After that, construction began.

How the contractor was appointed

The cost of the bridge is 227.9 billion rubles, the project contractor received a contract for 222.4 billion rubles. The general contractor, Stroygazmontazh LLC of Arkady Rotenberg, was selected without a competition due to the lack of competitors.

The structures of Gennady Timchenko were also interested in the project, but in the end they did not apply for it. “This is a very difficult project for us. I'm not sure that we can handle it, - quoted the words of Timchenko TASS. “I don’t want to take on reputational risks.” Rotenberg, in an interview with Kommersant, called the Crimean Bridge his "contribution to the development of the country."

Mostotrest became the main subcontractor of Stroygazmontazh - it received a contract for 96.9 billion rubles. At the time of receiving the contract, this company also belonged to Rotenberg. Shortly before the start of the construction of the bridge, he sold his share. But in April 2018, the businessman bought it back. The businessman's representative explained this by the growth of Mostotrest's competencies during the construction of the bridge. For example, the culmination was the construction and then the installation of the rail and road arches of both bridges within 72 hours. The length of the spans is 227 m, and the arches themselves weigh 7000 tons for the railway part and 6000 tons for the road part. For the passage of ships passing the Kerch Strait, a wide corridor is provided: arched spans rise 35 m above the water.

How they built

The main construction and installation work began in 2016, and they unfolded simultaneously along the entire length of the bridge - on eight offshore and onshore sections - and not from coast to coast, as in traditional bridge construction. The main problems were associated with weather conditions: in the Kerch Strait, complex geology, high seismicity (up to 9 points) and difficult meteorological conditions. “The Crimean bridge is being erected in a seismically hazardous zone and in the condition of soft soils - instead of hard rocks at the bottom of the Kerch Strait, there are many-meter layers of silt and sand. Therefore, the bridge structure must have increased strength. To do this, the piles were submerged into the ground to a depth of 105 m,”comments Vladimir Tsoi, chief specialist for artificial structures at DSK“Autoban”. In addition, to ensure seismic resistance, piles are driven both vertically and at an angle; inclined ones will withstand the load of floating ice much better during the period of ice drift, Tsoi continues. At the base of the Crimean bridge there are more than 6,500 piles, above them 595 supports, and the weight of one span that is thrust over the water reaches 580 tons.

How did you spend your money

According to the project 170 billion rubles. provided for the creation of the main structures of road and railway bridges and adjacent sections, 9 billion rubles. - for design and survey work, another 4.8 billion rubles. go to the purchase of land and unforeseen expenses, the remaining costs (about 44 billion rubles) - preparation of the territory, temporary buildings and structures, energy facilities, says Starovoit. They tried to save money, for example, choosing the optimal cost and technology solution for the length of the spans - on average 55 and 63 m, Ilya Rutman, General Director of the Giprostroymost - St. Petersburg Institute, conveyed through a representative.

Despite this, the burden on the budget turned out to be more than significant. Due to the construction of the Crimean bridge, it was decided to refuse to finance the construction of another important geopolitical transport facility - a bridge across the Lena River in Yakutia, regional and federal officials told Vedomosti. The project was not abandoned, the construction of the bridge will begin after 2020, says a representative of the Russian Ministry of Transport.

The bridge to the vacation

Thanks to the bridge, getting to Crimea will be much easier. The authorities of the peninsula are expecting an influx of tourists. Last year, 5, 39 million people came to Crimea. The tourist flow after the introduction of the bridge can increase by 1.5-2 times - up to 8-10 million tourists a year, the head of the region Sergey Aksenov wrote on his Facebook page.

But the convenience of using the bridge will directly depend on when the adjacent roads are completed, in particular the Tavrida federal highway, Chistyakov says. "Tavrida" will connect Kerch with Simferopol and Sevastopol. The cost of the project will be RUB 163 billion, the contractor is VAD. The first stage of construction (two lanes) is planned to be completed by the end of 2018, the second (two more lanes) - by the end of 2020. If the bridge opens earlier than Tavrida, then traffic jams in Crimea cannot be avoided, Minister of Transport Maxim Sokolov warned in the spring. … The head of the State Committee for Roads of the Crimea Sergey Karpov is also expecting difficulties in traffic on the territory of the peninsula.

Problems may arise on the other side of the bridge: the roads of the Krasnodar Territory on the approaches to the bridge are not yet ready for the load, Chistyakov says. A 40 km long road was built from the M25 Novorossiysk - Kerch Strait highway to the bridge. But some of the junctions are still under construction, says a person close to Rosavtodor. Expansion from 2-3 lanes to four is expected along almost its entire length, a representative of the Ministry of Transport said. You can also get to the bridge along the Krasnodar - Slavyansk-on-Kuban - Temryuk highway (P251) or through Krymsk (A146), Chistyakov says, but both roads are not highways and pass through settlements. Rosavtodor has a project to reconstruct a road through the city of Slavyansk-on-Kuban. It is considered distant approaches to the bridge and was recently transferred to federal ownership, its reconstruction is estimated at about 70 billion rubles, it is planned to complete it by 2023, said a person close to Rosavtodor. The only repaired road - through Krymsk - is brought into a standard state, but it is actively used by freight transport, says the source of Vedomosti. Plans for the development of the road network around the Crimean bridge on the territory of the Krasnodar Territory will be fully implemented almost simultaneously with the completion of the construction of the Tavrida highway to Crimea, a representative of the Ministry of Transport promises.

Longest bridge

Danyang-Kunshan Viaduct (railway bridge, part of Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Railway)

Country: China

Length: 164.8 km

Opening - June 2011

Cost: $ 8.5 billion

Construction of the bridge began in 2008. The viaduct is located in Eastern China, between the cities of Nanjing and Shanghai. About 9 km of the bridge was laid over the water. The largest body of water that the bridge crosses is Yangcheng Lake in Suzhou.