The automobile and railway arched spans are assembled at an open technological site, which is located on the Kerch coast. For the first time in domestic bridge construction, such a long arched span over the sea has been designed and built.

“The arched spans are the largest elements of the Crimean Bridge. Their total weight is about 10 thousand tons. The length of each span is 227 meters. In fact, it is the length of two football fields. The enlargement of such large structures is carried out on stocks - special stands equipped with lifting and construction equipment. Here the arches are built up in blocks from the center to the edges. Gradually they will take on the shape specified by the designers - reminiscent of a stretched bow,” said the deputy general director company "SGM-Most" Dmitry Kondakov.

Now the lower part of each arched span is being assembled on the slipways - these are the structures on which transport will subsequently go. The blocks are fastened with high-strength bolted joints and welding. More than 1 million bolts, nuts and washers are required for the construction of a railway arch alone. In this large-scale manual production The tightening of each bolt is monitored and adjusted. The tension force specified by the project is provided by torque wrenches.

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Chief engineer of FKU "Uprdor" “Taman” Yuri Safonov said that control over the assembly of the arches is carried out around the clock, in several stages, since these are complex, massive structures.

“As a result, we will get two structures that are almost identical in appearance. At the same time, the automobile arched span will weigh 4.5 thousand tons, and the railway one will weigh a thousand tons more. It contains more elements that will ensure the necessary rigidity and resistance of the span to deformation during the movement of heavy freight cars,” explained Safonov.

Work on assembling the arched spans will last about a year. The finished structures will be lowered from the stocks along special paths onto the floating system and transported by water to the fairway of the Kerch-Yenikalsky Canal. Then they are mounted in the designed position on permanent supports. The spans will be installed above the shipping corridor at a height of 35 meters from the water surface. This surface clearance will ensure unimpeded passage under the Crimean Bridge for ships traveling from the Black Sea to the Sea of ​​Azov and back.

Bridge home

Currently, Crimea is connected to the main territory of the Russian Federation through air and ferry services.

Today, the bridge across the Kerch Strait is being built by more than 3 thousand workers from all over Russia. More than 800 designers took part in the development of the project.

Construction is scheduled to be completed in December 2018, when the bridge will be open to traffic in working mode. In 2019, after completion of all commissioning work and landscaping of the territory, the bridge will be put into operation.

SIMFEROPOL, August 29 – RIA Novosti, Maxim Groznov. Railway arch bridge under construction across the Kerch Strait weighing 6 thousand tons is fixed on fairway supports at an altitude of 35 meters above the water level, the Crimean Bridge information center reported.

The operation to install the railway arch span of the bridge across the Kerch Strait began on Sunday morning, and shipping traffic in the strait was suspended for 72 hours. The arched span, 227 meters long and 45 meters high, was transported using floaters to the fairway supports. Lifting of the arch using powerful jacks began late on Monday evening and was successfully completed on Tuesday morning.

“The railway arch of the Crimean Bridge has been lifted onto the fairway supports and securely fixed at the design height of 35 meters from the water. The ship and aeronautical alarm system is already operating on the structure. Final installation on the fairway supports will take another three weeks,” the message says.

“The production of the arch, its assembly on slipways over the course of a year, the manufacture of the floating systems on which it was loaded, the fastening of the arch on powerful fairway supports: all together - this is a unique operation. We gathered the best specialists who were able to do this, and we are very grateful to them for this,” the information center quotes the words of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stroygazmontazh LLC Arkady Rotenberg.

© Info center "Crimean Bridge"

© Info center "Crimean Bridge"

The floating supports, with the help of which the arch was towed, returned to the Kerch shore for inspection and re-equipment. After carrying out the necessary procedures, a road arch weighing 5 thousand tons will be transported and installed. As a result, two arched spans will rise above the fairway, under which ships will pass unhindered, the Crimean Bridge information center noted.

A bridge across the Kerch Strait that will connect Crimea and Krasnodar region, will be the longest in Russia - its length will be 19 kilometers. The start of vehicle traffic on the bridge is scheduled for December 2018.

The construction of the Crimean Bridge across the Kerch Strait has been planned for several decades. It was only in 2015 that the design documentation was finalized and the decision was made to begin work. The bridge should not only connect the Russian mainland and Crimea, but also organically fit into the transport infrastructure. It was these reasons that guided the authors of the project when presenting it to the media and answering journalists’ questions “why is there an arch on the Crimean bridge?”

Why are road and railway arches needed on the Kerch Bridge: reasons

The bridge crossing over the Kerch Strait is a unique structure that is surrounded by rumors and speculation even at the construction stage. Journalists are concerned with the question: why is the arch on the Crimean bridge needed?

There were several reasons for this decision:

• The bridge connects the Taman and Kerch peninsulas, passing through the island of Tuzla. Due to the fact that a special ring road is being built around the Black Sea, it was decided to put railway and automobile arches on the bridge. Therefore, only ignorant and ignorant journalists ask the question “why are there arches on the Kerch Bridge”;
• The bridge has approaches that consist of highways and railways. Therefore, the project envisaged the appearance of such structures. How many arches will there be on the Crimean bridge and how many of them should there be - these were the questions the builders asked. And then they decided to stop at two. This is due to the fact that several important highways adjoin the bridge - Tavrida and Kerch-Novorossiysk;
• An important role is also played by why there is an arch on the Crimean bridge, that a ferry crossing across the strait in bad weather does not work. As a result, it is impossible to transport cars, buses, food, people;
• During one of the press conferences dedicated to the crossing, journalists learned why a railway arch would be installed on the Crimean bridge. In particular, it is necessary to optimize the operation of the ports of Kavkaz and Taman by connecting them by rail.

How many arches will there be on the Kerch bridge: design features

In Crimea, construction of the Tavrida highway is in full swing, which should connect Kerch, Sevastopol and Simferopol. In this regard, residents of the peninsula do not have a question about why a car or railway arch is needed on the Crimean bridge. They understand that this is a chance to increase the tourist flow to the resorts.

People who are not familiar with the crossing project ask in the media and the Internet how many arches there will be on the Crimean bridge. If you go to the official website of the project, you can read that there will be two such designs. They will allow cars and trains to travel from the mainland to Crimea.

Due to the fact that it is necessary to optimize the infrastructure of the peninsula, the question was raised about why arches are needed on the Kerch bridge. Navigable structures were difficult to install, but such operations on the water are quite justified, since the appearance of arches will solve many problems, primarily transport ones.

Taking into account the complexity of crossing from one side of the strait to the other, the structure was added to the project. But not all people fully understand why there are arches on the Kerch bridge. This will greatly facilitate the delivery of goods, connect Crimea with other regions of the country, and allow people to travel to relatives on the mainland without any problems.

Thus, the navigable spans of the bridge and why arches are needed on the Crimean bridge were decided at the initial stage of construction. Now the structures are installed on supports, which allows further work on the construction of the roadway to continue.

Floating supports delivered the road arched span of the Crimean Bridge to the alignment between the fairway supports by 19:30. Builders are preparing for the next stage of the offshore operation: lifting cables are secured to the arch, after which hours of work will begin to prepare the lifting equipment for operation. Lifting the structure to the design height of 35 meters is expected to begin on October 12.

Lifting cables are attached to the lifting beams of the arched span - such beams are installed under the lower part of the arch - along the edges - specifically for lifting it to the designed height. All lifting equipment was installed and inspected on the fairway supports: truss lifts (units for lifting the arch), working platforms, equipment and devices (cable jacks, pumping stations and so on).

12 jacks will be used to lift the road arch, which weighs about 5.5 thousand tons. The lifting capacity of each jack is 650 tons, that is, the total lifting capacity of the equipment is 7800 tons, which gives a 30 percent margin for the lifting capacity of the system when working with the road arch of the Crimean Bridge.

After the lifting cables are secured, the load will be transferred to the jacks in stages: first 5% of the weight of the span, then 50%, then 100%. As a result of these actions, the arch will rise from the floating supports by 1 meter. Then the builders will step by step check the reliability of the structures of the units and sling elements. The arch will be suspended for an hour and only after this the further rise of the arched span will begin.

The estimated average speed of lifting the arched span is 5 meters per hour.

The operation of lifting and installing the arch involves up to 30 people per shift (engineers, slingers, welders, surveyors, quality control specialists).

In total, the installation of a road arch on the fairway will not exceed 72 hours. At this time, navigation in the Kerch-Yenikalsky Canal is limited. As soon as the builders confirm the reliability of fixing the arched span at the designed height, navigation of ships along the fairway will resume as usual.

Reference

The length of the navigable span of the Crimean Bridge is 227 meters.The under-bridge clearance, 185 meters wide and 35 meters high, ensures unhindered passage of all ships plying through the Kerch-Yenikalsky Canal.

The road arched span is structurallyarch with tight tightening. Designed to accommodate four lanes of traffic, including safety lanes. The width of the span is 30 meters along the stretch (lower part), 15 meters at the top point, height at the highest point is 45 meters.

Floating system – These are floating supports with an arched span submerged and fixed on them. It is based on pontoons, united like a catamaran and equipped with specialized deck equipment.

SIMFEROPOL, August 29 – RIA Novosti, Maxim Groznov. The railway arch of the bridge under construction across the Kerch Strait weighing 6 thousand tons is fixed on fairway supports at an altitude of 35 meters above the water level, the Crimean Bridge information center reported.

The operation to install the railway arch span of the bridge across the Kerch Strait began on Sunday morning, and shipping traffic in the strait was suspended for 72 hours. The arched span, 227 meters long and 45 meters high, was transported using floaters to the fairway supports. Lifting of the arch using powerful jacks began late on Monday evening and was successfully completed on Tuesday morning.

“The railway arch of the Crimean Bridge has been lifted onto the fairway supports and securely fixed at the design height of 35 meters from the water. The ship and aeronautical alarm system is already operating on the structure. Final installation on the fairway supports will take another three weeks,” the message says.

“The production of the arch, its assembly on slipways over the course of a year, the manufacture of the floating systems on which it was loaded, the fastening of the arch on powerful fairway supports: all together - this is a unique operation. We gathered the best specialists who were able to do this, and we are very grateful to them for this,” the information center quotes the words of the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Stroygazmontazh LLC Arkady Rotenberg.

© Info center "Crimean Bridge"

© Info center "Crimean Bridge"

The floating supports, with the help of which the arch was towed, returned to the Kerch shore for inspection and re-equipment. After carrying out the necessary procedures, a road arch weighing 5 thousand tons will be transported and installed. As a result, two arched spans will rise above the fairway, under which ships will pass unhindered, the Crimean Bridge information center noted.

The bridge across the Kerch Strait, which will connect Crimea and the Krasnodar Territory, will be the longest in Russia - its length will be 19 kilometers. The start of vehicle traffic on the bridge is scheduled for December 2018.