Crimean bridge connects the banks of Taman and Kerch

Fully completed assembly of span structures of the highway section of the Crimean bridge. On the eve of the New Year a single bridge between the Kerch and Taman coasts was completely formed. The mainland and the peninsula combined metal structures with a total weight of more than 100 thousand tons, which hold 288 supports.

According to the info center "Crimean Bridge", the last spans were pulled from the Kerch side from the support number 254 to the fairway No. 253. In total, almost 300 thousand high-strength bolts and nuts were needed to connect the spans from the Kerch side to the fairway arch, and the length of welded seams in this section reaches almost 30 kilometers.

• On the eve of the new year, bridge builders closed two banks - Crimean and Taman - with the fairway section, "said Leonid Ryzhenkin, deputy general director for infrastructure projects, Stroygazmontazh. - Today we have already formed a continuous thread of bridge span structures of the road section, which is already a whole along the whole 19 kilometers.

Joining the bridge under the road, the bridge builders announced the full implementation of the production plan for 2017 and formed a solid foundation. So, bored and prismatic piles are fully immersed, tubular piles - 95 percent of the project. 455 out of 595 supports provided for by the project (including all 288 supports under the road) are ready.

Now the active asphalting of the bridge continues: this work is executed almost by 50 percent of the project volume. Laying of asphalt on the sea spans will begin in 2018. No less important is the operation of creating expansion joints that will protect the bridge from the damaging effects of temperature changes. By the end of the year, more than 130 expansion joints of 190 design joints have been completed. Ahead - the creation of a network of energy supply, drainage systems, lighting, the construction of barrier fencing.

• It is also planned to install a system of automatic traffic management, - said Roman Novikov, head of PKU Uprdor "Taman". - It is necessary for traffic management and informing drivers about the current situation on the structure.

Open the car traffic on the bridge is planned until the end of 2018.