A 250-yard archway that will form the centrepiece of a bridge linking Russia and Crimea is being moved into place by tugboats today.
The 12-mile crossing is seen as a massive political powerplay by Vladimir Putin because Russia claims Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula as its own territory after it was annexed in March 2014.
Russian engineers have now assembled a key component of the Kerch Strait Bridge project – a giant 5,500-ton road arch – and the structure is being delivered ahead of its installation.
A 250-yard archway that will form the centrepiece of a bridge linking Russia and Crimea is being moved into place by tugboats today
The 12-mile crossing is seen as a massive political powerplay by Vladimir Putin because Russia claims Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula as its own territory after it was annexed in March 2014
Russian engineers have now assembled a key component of the Kerch Strait Bridge project – a giant 5,50 ton road arch – and the structure is now being delivered ahead of its installation
Once completed, the bridge will be Russia’s longest, and with four lanes it is claimed it will be able to accommodate 40,000 vehicles every day
A fleet of transportation ships led by a 3,000 horsepower tug, used floating pylons to carry the colossal arch on its three-mile journey.
Once in place, it will be anchored between two bridge supports being being lifted into place with the help of a team of engineers and divers.
The structure consists of 200 sections and was built in Kerch in the last 12 months.
It will be lifted high enough that ships will be able to pass underneath.
According to RT, chief Project Engineer, Sergey Lyuty, said: ‘The road arch is interesting primarily because of its location. Seismicity in the construction area may reach 8-9 magnitude, but nothing will happen to the arch during the earthquake, because the structure is designed with an excess strength reserve.’
Once completed, the bridge will be Russia’s longest, and with four lanes it is claimed it will be able to accommodate 40,000 vehicles every day.
Cars will be the first to cross it towards the end of next year and trains will use the bridge a year later in 2019.
In August, footage emerged of a huge 115-foot railway arch being moved into place.
A fleet of transportation ships led by a 3,000 horsepower tug, used floating pylons to carry the colossal arch on its three-mile journey
The structure consists of 200 sections and was built in Kerch in the last 12 months. It will be lifted high enough that ships will be able to pass underneath
Cars will be the first to cross it towards the end of next year and trains will use the bridge a year later in 2019
Standing at a massive 35 metres above the water, the highest point of the arch is taller than the tower of Big Ben.
The total structure weighs 6,000 tonnes and the road and rail infrastructure are being built around it.
Russia-West relations have been badly strained over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and continuing fighting in eastern Ukraine.
The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea remains under Russian control but is globally recognised as part of Ukraine.
Just days ago it emerged that NATO was to launch a new multinational force in Romania to counter Russia along its eastern flank and to check a growing Russian presence in the Black Sea following the Kremlin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea.
Initially a small force relying on troops from 10 NATO countries including Italy, Canada as well as Romania, the land, air and sea deployments will complement about 900 U.S. troops already in place.
‘Our purpose is peace, not war,’ Romanian President Klaus Iohannis told the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Bucharest. ‘We are not a threat for Russia. ‘But we need dialogue from a strong position of defence and discouragement.’
Russia accuses NATO of trying to encircle it and threatening stability in Eastern Europe, which NATO denies. Around the Black Sea, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey are NATO members while Georgia and Ukraine aspire to join.
The NATO force aims to develop its allied presence in the Black Sea region, rich in oil and gas, without escalating tensions, as it seeks to counter Russia’s own plans to create what military analysts say is a ‘buffer zone’.
The 2008 Russian operation to put troops in Georgia’s South Ossetia’s region, its support for separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 and its annexation of Crimea have raised the stakes, with all sides warning of a new, Cold-War style scenario.