After Russia annexed Crimea in the spring of 2014, relations between the fraternal peoples deteriorated greatly, and accordingly, the transport connection between Crimea and Russia through Ukraine became under threat. In this regard, Vladimir Putin made an unprecedented decision to build a bridge that would connect the peninsula with Russia. But the concern of local residents is increasing every day; they want to know when the bridge to Crimea will be built. Let's try, based on facts, to find out whether a bridge to Crimea will be built at all.
How important is the Crimean bridge
The Kerch Bridge will be able to boost the economy on the peninsula by restoring the flow of tourists to the level of Soviet-era levels. At least this is what the Crimean authorities say. But creating such a grandiose structure in this area is a very complex construction and engineering task. How will it ultimately be implemented?
With the opening of the bridge, there will be an economic boom, which is associated with the fact that Crimea will be able to receive at least 10 million tourists, but so far these figures are very far away, because in 2015 the peninsula received only 4 million vacationers. Naturally, this is much less than in Ukrainian times, however, despite this, tourists began to spend more money. And indeed, when the construction of the bridge across Kerch Strait, completely new prospects will open up for the region. In general, the launch of the bridge will provide the peninsula with a colossal volume of cargo/goods and passenger turnover, while most of the economic problems of Crimea will be solved, including the following:
- Year-round operation of ground transport between the peninsula and mainland Russia, regardless of weather conditions;
- Queues for the ferry will become a thing of the past;
- Food security of the peninsula, correspondingly reducing prices for various goods;
- Investment attractiveness of Crimea.
As you can see, the importance of the Kerch Bridge is difficult to overestimate, just like the uniqueness of the project itself.
The uniqueness and scale of the Kerch Bridge
The very timing and scale of construction have already become unique, because this will be the largest bridge crossing, the length of which will be 19 kilometers. Its daily capacity will be up to 47 trains and 40 thousand cars. They will even build the bridge in record time - 3 years, that is, until the end of 2018.
Work has already begun at the end of summer with the construction of 3 temporary technological bridges necessary for the delivery of building materials. The first of them has already been built, 1.2 km long. It stands on 58 supports, which are designed to transport up to 250 tons of cargo and exposure to ice. The second bridge and the railway technological road will not open later than winter 2018. Now just imagine how much effort and building materials such a structure will require, not to mention the financial costs - the cost of the bridge will cost Russia 230 billion rubles.
In what year will the main bridge be built? After it is approved project documentation, work will begin on the construction of the main Kerch Bridge, which will become a unique construction for engineers, because they must take everything into account and deal with all difficulties, including natural disasters. In terms of its complexity and scale, the Kerch Bridge will be the only one of its kind, since it will absorb the experience gained over the years in the construction of most bridges. Due to difficult geological conditions and tight deadlines, the Kerch Bridge can only be equated to the crossing of the Ob River, which is located in the Tomsk region.
The construction of a bridge from Krasnodar to Crimea across the Kerch Strait is entering the home stretch, as Russian officials say. Even I, although I wasn’t particularly interested in Lately, I heard that almost 70% of the work has been completed. In this regard, from August 3, entry to all adjacent territories and observation platforms of the bridge construction is prohibited - they are taken under protection by soldiers of the Russian Guard.
This is understandable - after all, after the annexation of Crimea and an unsuccessful attempt to break through a land corridor to Russia through Mariupol, this is an object special attention, including President Putin personally. True, few people remember that for now this object is a dead end. Even if the bridge is completed on time, the motorist will have nowhere to go after he crosses the Kerch Strait - the federal highway to Simferopol is not ready now and is unlikely to appear in 2018.
I will not go back to the distant past, as is now fashionable in Russia, and talk about the useless Tsar Bell or the meaningless Tsar Cannon. In modern times, there are enough examples of how Russians, successfully overcoming difficulties, implemented gigantic projects. At the same time, they did not receive practical benefits comparable to the costs.
Perhaps the most striking example of Vladimir Putin's reign is the Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014. Even according to the Accounts Chamber, the costs of the Games amounted to about 325 billion rubles. According to independent estimates - at least twice as much... And here the money was clearly thrown away. Conceived as a powerful PR stunt, the Olympics were largely forgotten - both inside and outside the country - after the annexation of Crimea in March of that year.
Another example is the bridge to Russky Island in Vladivostok. It was successfully built, with difficulty meeting the deadlines, for the APEC summit. This is a unique design. And now hundreds of students travel along it to study, because no one else needs the bridge except for them, the route is a dead end, there is no way to get further than Russky Island except by swimming...
The problem for Russia is traditional - fools and roads. The former are planning to build the latter and, as a result, there are simply no roads yet. A tangle of almost insoluble contradictions is created. Motorists will have a unique opportunity to take a breeze across the bridge over the sea and get stuck in a traffic jam for many hours on the Crimean side. So far, only a couple of kilometers of road have been built on one side of the bridge and a few hundred meters on the other.
As for the railway span of the bridge, the benefit from it will also be very modest until the state company Russian Railways electrifies the Crimean railways. And they plan to tackle this no earlier than 2021...
The gigantic demonstration project will run into impassable roads and for many years will remain, like the Sochi Olympics, a good idea that has run into a Russian imperial impasse.
The idea of building the Kerch Bridge is not new; in the second half of the 19th century, the British came up with it, who dreamed of launching a railway through the Crimea to Asia and further to India, to Delhi, thus connecting their possessions. Their dreams did not come true: construction railway required funds, and the political situation was changing before our eyes.
While the British gathered their strength, the Russians annexed Turkestan to the empire, stopping at the border of English possessions in Kush and the matter almost ended in war, but Great Britain and Russia managed to avoid it.
Then the British decided to build a road through the Caucasus Mountains, and in 1901 the project was ready, engineers even ran a telegraph along the bottom of the Black Sea, but the construction of the century had to be postponed - the bridge across the English Channel turned out to be too expensive for the British crown.
The idea of the British attracted Nicholas II for some time, but the impending war changed the emperor's plans.
Stalin has his ideas, Hitler has his
They returned to the construction of the Kerch-Taman bridge during the industrialization of Red Russia. Secretary General CPSU Joseph Stalin was going to not only build a bridge to the peninsula, he planned a grandiose reconstruction of railways in the south of Russia: the plans were to build a railway from Kherson to Crimea, then to Taman and along the Black Sea coast to Poti. The project was created in record time, and it would definitely have been implemented if the country of the Soviets had found the required grade of steel and technology for the manufacture of structures. We had to order what we needed from Germany, with which we seemed to have good relations. But it quickly became clear that Hitler had his own goals - he really intended to use the bridge structures ordered by Stalin in the Crimea, but he wanted to build his own bridge, along which the Fuhrer was going to transfer tanks and weapons for a future campaign in India.
The Germans started construction
When the Nazis captured Crimea, the structures were promptly delivered to Kerch. German engineers began construction of the bridge in March 1943. A branch line was built from the Krymskaya railway station to the Chushka spit, then construction of approaches near the village of Zhukovka began.
It is known that Stalin knew about Hitler’s intentions, but he refused the military’s proposal to bomb warehouses with equipment and structures: he hoped to use them for their intended purpose.
The cable car is also a way out
The German plans were not destined to come true. The Red Army went on the offensive, the construction of the bridge had to be stopped. To transport ammunition to Taman, German engineers managed to build an aerial ropeway; it worked for several months, transporting up to eight hundred tons of ammunition across the strait every day. In the fall of 1943, during the retreat, the Germans blew up part of the cableway's supports, but they did not have enough time to completely destroy it.
All efforts go to building the bridge
Further history can be traced in the article by architect Mikhail Rudenko “Construction and destruction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait” (Transport Construction magazine, issue 6, 1991). All the materials and metal structures brought by Albert Speer's subordinates were abandoned by the Nazis during the retreat - the Red Army soldiers found huge Peine I-beams and piles made of channels and sheet piles. The decision to build a temporary bridge was made on January 25, 1944 State Committee defense, but design began much earlier. In the future, they planned to strengthen the bridge by replacing some structures.
The construction of the supports for the drawbridge spans took three months; for this, two concrete plants were erected on barges; 177 piles, 24 meters long and weighing up to four tons, were driven and concreted; more than 12,000 cubic meters of concrete, 55 tons of reinforcement, 3,600 square meters formwork.
In total, the construction of the first stage of the bridge took five months: the first train passed from Crimea to the Taman Peninsula on November 3, 1944. Designer Dmitry Teryukhov said in his memoirs that construction managers traditionally stood under the bridge when it was being tested. The commission that accepted the bridge indicated that the team “overcame all difficulties and achieved a record” by building 30 meters of the bridge per day.
From difficulties to disaster
It was necessary to urgently begin work on the second stage in order to protect the bridge from drifting ice Sea of Azov. But by the winter of 1944, the stop had changed: the front rolled further, to the west, the Kerch Strait remained in the rear, supplies deteriorated, winter storms began, the bridge overpass froze, the wind knocked people off their feet, and work became difficult.
In a hurry, the builders tried to install ice cutters, but only had time to make five. At the end of February, under the influence of a severe storm, the ice of Azov shifted and the ice fields went towards the unprotected structure of the Kerch crossing. The builders tried to blow up the ice with sabers and fire at it from artillery pieces and even bombing from airplanes - nothing helped; in some places the depth of the ice reached the bottom. From February 18 to February 20, 1945, 15 intermediate spans of the bridge were destroyed and fell into the sea.
According to legend, Stalin, realizing that man is powerless in the face of the elements, did not punish anyone, but only removed the awards that were given for the construction of the bridge.
After the accident, for some time they still discussed the fate of the bridge, they wanted to demolish the temporary one and build a new, permanent one, but when it became clear that it would cost the country’s post-war budget two billion rubles, there was nothing about it for a long time forgot. Until the collapse of the USSR, a ferry service operated between the Taman Peninsula and Crimea.
The builders of the crossing of the Kerch Strait are reporting the completion of an important stage in the construction of the road part of the facility. It will be possible to get from the Krasnodar Territory to Crimea by road next year.
The exact answer will be known when traffic begins on the Kerch Bridge, but judging by indirect evidence, it will still be free. For example, this is evidenced by the fact that no funds from foreign investors were involved in the construction. The entire project is funded by the state. This may have been done specifically to maintain free travel for cars.
How much does the bridge to Crimea cost? The Kerch Bridge will be one of the most expensive bridges in the world for a reason difficulties of construction designs. The initial cost was 50 billion rubles, but then it increased due to the combination of road and railway lines. The price increase was also influenced by the weakening of the Russian currency against the US dollar.
Russian Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov commented on Crimea. According to him, everything is going even ahead of schedule. This was reported by the press service of the Ministry of Transport following a meeting of the working group on the development and functioning of the transport infrastructure of Crimea.
Let us remind you that the main and main source of financing for the construction of the bridge is funds from the federal budget within the framework of the Federal Target Program "Socio-economic development of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol until 2020." The bridge will connect Taman and Kerch and as a result will be the longest in Russia, its length will be 19 kilometers.
When will the bridge to Crimea be opened for cars? Main news today 01/30/2018
KERCH, July 17 – RIA Novosti (Crimea). Work traffic on the road approaches to the bridge across the Kerch Strait is planned to open in April 2018. The head of the Service announced this at the construction site of automobile approaches. highways RK Alexey Safronov in conversation with Deputy Minister economic development Russia by Sergei Nazarov.
Sean Walker writes about this in the article “The Russian Bridge to Crimea is Near Completion,” published on the website of The Guardian newspaper.
Later from Soviet plans refused due to huge costs, related with the area's complex geological challenges and weather conditions.
The construction and commissioning of the Kerch Bridge will open up great prospects in the field of domestic tourism in Russia. To visit Kerch, Simferopol, have a good tan on the Black Sea shore, swim and simply travel through the wild places of Crimea, you will not need to prepare a foreign passport. All you have to do is buy a train ticket or get into your car - and you can go on a trip!
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,” explains Leonid Ryzhenkin, deputy general director for infrastructure projects of the contractor company Stroygazmontazh.
It is reported that 288 supports are currently installed (85 of them in the offshore area), and the assembly of the spans is almost complete. In addition, in the direction from Taman to Kerch, the lower layer of asphalt concrete was laid on 8 km of the bridge deck, the upper layer on almost 7 km, and in the direction from Kerch to Taman, bridge builders laid 5 km of the lower layer of asphalt concrete and 1.6 km of the upper layer. At the same time, work is underway to install drainage systems, treatment facilities and engineering networks.
Note that the road part of the bridge to the Crimean peninsula will have 4 lanes, and the total length of the crossing will be 19 km. estimated time crossing the bridge by car is 10 minutes, and the permitted speed is 120 km/h. The crossing will become the most important infrastructure facility in Russia and will become a more convenient and cheaper alternative to sea ferries - for now the only way get to Crimea by car.
Then they returned to the bridge project in the 30s, during the time of Stalin. Then the idea was to build a railway across the Kerch Strait, but the implementation of the bridge was prevented by the outbreak of World War II.
In 1944, in as soon as possible, was erected in seven months railroad bridge, which, however, was dismantled in 1945 due to damage to part of the supports by ice from the Sea of Azov.
The construction of the Kerch Bridge is ahead of schedule. Having started in February last year, the workers immediately picked up a good pace. By the fall of 2017, the prospects for early completion of construction became not so illusory. The project still does not answer the direct question of whether it is possible to complete the construction of the century before December 2018. Kryminform compared forecasts with facts. And there was hope.
Of course, the key object is the bridge that will connect Crimea with mainland Russia, the president said. It will integrate the peninsula into national transport flows and create additional opportunities for economic growth. "I am confident that all tasks will be completed on top level", noted the head of state, quoted by RG.
At the end of November, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Vladimir Omelyan proposed tightening sanctions against Russia. In his opinion, this would disrupt the construction of a bridge connecting the Crimean Peninsula and the Krasnodar Territory.
Kerch Bridge 2018. Detailed information.
To date, all the supports of the road part of the bridge across the Kerch Strait, which will connect the Krasnodar Territory and the Crimean Peninsula, have been installed, reports information resource"Crimean Bridge". The two coasts will be connected by spans by the end of December, and full vehicle traffic on the bridge should open in December 2018.
The official date for the opening of traffic on the Crimean Bridge continues to be December 2018. However, over the two years of work, the builders have repeatedly surprised us with the pace of construction of the bridge. It is possible that next year will bring another surprise from them.
Russia says the takeover was a response to the will of local residents who voted overwhelmingly to join Russia in a hastily organized referendum in 2014 that was rejected by the international community as illegal. Since then, human rights organizations have criticized the suppression of freedom of speech in the region, and the indigenous Crimean Tatar population has reported harassment and arrests.
Thus, by May 30, 2018, auto approaches will remain isolated from the existing urban road network of Kerch. This means that the start of through traffic on the highway is possible only when traffic on the bridge is opened. The synchronicity of work on the road approaches and the Kerch Bridge itself has been repeatedly stated by the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation.
Also, in 2017, the construction of the bridge “reached the finish line.” Thus, the arches of the bridge were installed over the Kerch Strait. It is also reported that all span structures along the road part of the bridge have already been installed. The length of the bridge will be 19 km.
Work is in full swing day and night. In total, about two hundred pieces of equipment, over twenty watercraft and more than seven thousand builders from all over Russia are involved at the site per day. “Vladivostok, Tyumen, Ufa, Kurgan, Yekaterinburg, Omsk, Tomsk, Magnitogorsk, North-West, Central Russia, South,” Novikov lists. Many have more than one or two large construction projects behind them. Olympic venues in Sochi, bridge to Russky Island in Vladivostok. There are also very well-deserved veterans - those who at one time built the BAM. One of them is Vasily Gavrilovich Kharlanov, who now heads bridge crew No. 99, working on the island of Tuzla.
Kerch Bridge name. News for this hour.
Question, when will the bridge across the Kerch Strait be built?, excites the minds of many. This is not surprising, since the first development of the structure began more than a hundred years ago. Work began several times, but it was not successful. Now the bridge across the Kerch Strait, the timing of completion and the scale of construction are being discussed by many media and on the sidelines of offices.
The result of the work will be the connection of the coasts of the Taman and Crimean peninsulas. People will have the opportunity to directly go to any city in the sunny region without crossing the borders of a neighboring state, which in light of current events is very inconvenient. The timing of the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait is not dry numbers. This is a dream of people that has developed over the years. People tried to get from Kuban to Crimea without queues and wasting time back in ancient times. The bridge existed for some time, but it was temporary and could not withstand long-term use. The completion of the construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait will fulfill the aspirations of many.
Crossing action
Since 1954, a ferry service has been operating, which, to the extent possible, meets the needs of carriers. There are several platforms that transport goods and people. They cannot work smoothly due to weather conditions. In such conditions, a photo of the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait pleasantly pleases the soul. The crossing can only operate in good weather when there is no storm. In winter, the movement of the platforms stops. In the spring, waves often rise due to strong winds, which impedes the movement of the ferry.
When will the bridge across the Kerch Strait be built?
How the bridge across the Kerch Strait is growing, the stage of its construction and the timing of the completion of the project cannot but worry tourists. According to preliminary estimates, it is planned to complete the road track by 2018, and already in 2019 the railway line will be put into operation. In order not to miss the stated deadlines, work is proceeding at an accelerated pace. Online cameras show the bridge to Crimea across the Kerch Strait, a video of which can be viewed on a specialized website.
Work is currently taking place throughout the entire structure. The required number of piles for installing the supports had already been driven. The construction stages of the bridge across the Kerch Strait are strictly observed. To ensure that the entire structure is safe and stable, it is necessary to install about 50 piles on each support. Work is being carried out on two banks, the Tuzluk Spit and the sea gap. Our specialists strictly follow the installation instructions. Peculiar climatic conditions and the abundance of ice masses in winter time can make their own adjustments. Therefore, Crimean news covers the bridge across the Kerch Strait, videos and information about it in great detail.
Bridge across the Kerch Strait: photo
For some time there were disputes about where this important structure should appear. The bridge across the Kerch Strait, its design and cost were carefully calculated. It was decided to build an artery from the Tuzluk Spit to the Crimean coast. Construction sites were set up on the Kerch side. The construction of the bridge across the Kerch Strait video provides good coverage of these infrastructure structures.
There are special camps for workers with everything they need. Currently, about 3 thousand people work at the facility. How a bridge is being built across the Kerch Strait, a video about this is one of the most popular. They show how workers live, which enterprises operate smoothly. You can also see the stage of work. YouTube demonstrates the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. Anyone interested can see the process online. This is possible thanks to numerous cameras broadcasting.
Online video of the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait allows you to appreciate the scale of the structure. A large arch for the passage of large sea vessels will be assembled in Kerch. This question has already been settled, and all conditions are being created for this. It is interesting to watch the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. This breathtaking spectacle allows you to appreciate the scope of the work. Many people watch all the news and video materials.
Bridge to Crimea across the Kerch Strait: video and construction stages
The bridge across the Kerch Strait, photos, articles and videos show the real picture of what is happening. Currently there is a working version of the structure. It allows you to continue the process of installing metal structures. The bridge across the Kerch Strait April 2016 photo still looks quite amorphous. The same cannot be said about further video materials. Contractors plan to complete the main work in the first year.
The bridge across the Kerch Strait photo from the 2016 summer period is already quite definite. There are working structures, piles have been driven in, supports have been installed. Eight spans are formed. All of them are being built almost simultaneously. The photo of the bridge to Crimea across the Kerch Strait clearly shows this. Anyone can inquire about what is happening at the construction site. The scale of work is very extensive. It is necessary to install load-bearing supports and protect them from the ice mass before cold weather and frosts.
Photo Crimean bridge through the Kerch Strait allow you to see firsthand the work done. The outlines of the future structure are already visible. The length of the structure is nineteen kilometers. This project is very large and unique for Russia. The bridge across the Kerch Strait 1944 photo is very different from the modern one. Temporary wooden structures were not strong enough. In this project, everything is thought out to the smallest detail. You can see the bridge across the Kerch Strait in a satellite photo and understand how it will unite the two southern shores.