The greatest building of the century that will connect the Crimean peninsula and the Krasnodar Territory will be the longest in Russia - its total length will be 19 kilometers. It is planned to be commissioned in December 2018. The best specialists from various fields worked on the scheme of the Kerch bridge, as well as its project.
The strategic importance of the bridge
Connecting the Crimea and the Taman Peninsula of the Krasnodar Territory in Russia, the highway will have four wide lanes capable of holding up to 40, 000 cars per day. A 10-minute trip from Crimea to Taman will accelerate the flow of goods and people, all of which are currently being transported by ferry.
More than 30 companies are participating in the construction of the facility, which will be the longest in Europe, surpassing the 17.2-km Vasco da Gama bridge in Portugal.
Facts from the story. General information
In the dry years, when the Don and Kuban rivers did not discharge enough water into the Sea of Azov, it was possible to wade from Crimea to the Caucasus (the ancient Greek playwright Aeschylus called the passage “a cow ford”). A temporary transition was created here, organized here by the Pontic king Mithridates in the first century BC.
The first real scheme of the Kerch bridge was proposed by the Russian naval officer Vladimir Dmitrievich Mendeleev in the second half of the nineteenth century (the son of the great chemist D.I. Mendeleev). This scheme of the Kerch bridge consisted in the construction of a dam from Cape Pavlovsky to the island of Tuzla, and then from it to Taman itself. This project was called the bridge from Europe to South Asia.
In 1903, the Russian emperor Nicholas II decided to continue the construction of a bridge across the Kerch Strait. The best Russian engineers worked on the scheme of the Kerch bridge and the project. But later the First World War, Civil War and Revolution began. All this greatly slowed down the progress of construction work.
The scheme of the Kerch Strait bridge was also developed during socialist industrialization. Soviet factories at that time could not fully cope with the implementation of such an order for the purchase of all the iron structures necessary for the construction of this huge structure, so they were purchased in Germany before the Second World War.
The construction of the bridge during the Second World War
Later, during the Second World War, German scientists and engineers were able to develop a new project for a bridge across the Kerch Strait, which would be able to establish rail and road connections from Kerch to the Novorossiysk region. The real preparatory work was begun from the beginning of the spring of 1943. But soon the situation at the front changed and construction stopped.
Later, after the liberation of Taman, work on this grandiose construction was continued by Soviet engineers. An updated scheme of the Kerch bridge was developed. Work began, but later the bridge itself was destroyed by the ice leaving the Sea of Azov. It was decided to disassemble it.
Crimean bridge nowadays
The members of the state examination had a difficult task: 74 construction options were proposed for consideration, which were to carefully study and choose the best. In February 2016, the construction project was finally approved and in March work began on the installation of piles, which will serve as a support for the bridge.
General scheme of the Crimean bridge across the Kerch Strait
The bridge itself will consist of four sections. The first section will consist of a section of the bridge connecting the island of Tuzla and the city of Kerch, 6.1 km long. The second section of the bridge is a section passing along the island of Tuzla, the length of which will be 6.5 kilometers. The third section is the next section of the bridge, 1.4 kilometers long, connecting Tuzla and the Taman Peninsula. The last five-kilometer section will be a road and rail crossing passing along the Taman Peninsula.
The design scheme of the Crimean bridge across the Kerch Strait shows that its maximum length will be nineteen kilometers. The bridge will connect the Taman Peninsula and the city of Kerch (Crimea). It will pass through the island of Tuzla located in the Kerch Strait. Also, the scheme of the Kerch bridge shows that the bridge itself connecting the Crimea with the mainland of Russia will consist of two highways. It will be a highway and railway.
The deepest part of the Crimean bridge will be located on the site connecting the city of Kerch and the island of Tuzla. There will be two navigable arches (automobile and railway), the construction of which has recently been completed. Their height will be 35 meters.
Construction stages
This is one of the most ambitious and complex projects in recent years. In its creation, a lot of specialists of different orientations were involved. Workers, engineers and architects had to make every effort, experience and knowledge to create one of the most ambitious structures in the history of Russian bridge construction. The bridge is also the longest in Europe.
The first support of the Crimean bridge was installed in April 2016. By the beginning of summer, a total of about a thousand piles were installed. By July 2017, the bridge was 75% complete. In August, builders began the construction of the navigable part of the Crimean bridge. At this point, the first navigable arch, which will connect the railway, has already been installed. In October 2017, the second road arch of the Crimean bridge was installed.
