Bridge builders have completed the construction of all supports of the road part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. These are 288 supports, of which 85 are in the sea area. The next stage is the completion of the assembly of spans for the highway, when a single thread of metal structures will connect all sections of the Crimean Bridge. The supports for the railway are half ready.
More than 3 thousand piles were loaded into the base of the supports for the road, including more than 2.5 thousand steel tubular piles, the total length of which was more than 160 km.
The bridge deck for the highway is a thread of metal structures with a length of almost 17 km. Their total weight is more than 100 thousand tons. In the offshore section from the Tuzla Spit to the Tuzla Island, the assembly of spans was carried out using the transverse sliding method; this work was completed in November. In the sections from the island to the fairway and from the fairway to the Kerch coast, the spans are constructed using the longitudinal sliding method: the segments are enlarged on land, then the thread moves into the water area along sliding guides using powerful jacks.
“We made the most of the summer-autumn period, including installing the arches of the Crimean Bridge and bringing the string of spans under the road close to the fairway section: on both sides of the road arch there are not yet blocked by spans of less than 60 meters,” said Leonid Ryzhenkin, Deputy General Director for Infrastructure Projects of STROYGAZMONTAZH LLC. “The construction site is completely ready for work in the winter season, work continues on the supports and spans of the railway section, and the construction of the roadway is underway.”
