The design of the bridge on the coast of the Taman Peninsula through the Kerch Strait received a new impetus immediately after the reunification of Crimea with Russia. When the new transport crossing is put into operation, it will directly connect the Krasnodar Territory with the Crimea. The shortest possible time allotted for design and survey work and for the construction itself. It is not yet known exactly what the length of the bridge across the Kerch Strait will be. Probably, the transport corridor will be 2 times the size of a similar building in 1944. The modern bridge crossing will significantly accelerate the development of tourism and agriculture in the region.
The bridge across the Kerch Strait. Project photo
Projects for the construction of the transport passage were presented to the attention of specialists of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and members of the interagency commission. One of the new objects of the transport infrastructure of the Crimea - a two-level bridge over the Kerch Strait - will be combined (road and rail). The specialists of the ministry came to this decision after studying all the proposed options.
The designers created 74 projects, differing in cost, length of access roads. Among them there are options for building a tunnel from the points of Tuzla and Chushka. Specialists in the field of bridge construction considered all the possibilities, but noted that the tunnel would cost more than the bridge, and it would take longer to build. The construction period of the combined bridge across the strait is 3.5 years. There are options for the construction of a transport corridor from the port "Caucasus", other points. A photo of one of the projects gives an idea of a two-level combination of roads and rail tracks.
The most promising projects
Specialists of the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation and the interagency commission carefully studied all the bridge crossing projects between the Caucasus and Crimea. The most promising recognized 4 options out of 74. Each of them has a different length of the bridge across the Kerch Strait:
- “Severny” - the route from Cape Fonar to the metro station Small Angle, its length is 10.3 km.
- "Zhukovsky" - a bridge from Zhukovka to the Spit Chushka, length - 6.3 km.
- Yenikalsky is a bridge in a narrow section of the strait 5.7 km long.
- Tuzlinsky is a transport passage from Ak-Burun metro to Tuzla Spit, length is 11.7 km.
Project cost
Initially, the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation announced the minimum amount of 50 billion rubles necessary for the construction of a road bridge between Taman and the Kerch Peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin specified and supplemented the task: to build a combined transport passage (road and rail).
A variant of the addition to the bridge is being worked out in the form of a tunnel along the bottom of the strait. The total cost of the entire construction will be specified until the middle of autumn 2014, as well as the length of the bridge across the Kerch Strait. By that time, engineering and survey work, which is being successfully carried out in the area of future construction, should be completed.
According to experts, the cost of building a bridge can exceed 300 billion rubles. About 84 billion rubles of the total amount will be spent on preparatory work. The cost of the project and the entire construction increases as you study the natural features of the strait, its geological structure and placement of historical, cultural and archeological objects on the Kerch Peninsula.
Bridge in the Kerch Strait
The project of the bridge from the Tuzla Spit to the Ak-Burun metro station, chosen by the interdepartmental commission, involves the construction of a railway and a highway over it. Two rail tracks will be laid and a four-lane highway will be built. Further along the spit, the railway will go not under the road, but next to it. Separate automobile and railway crossings will be built over the base of the spit. In the case of the construction of a transport corridor according to the Tuzlinsky project, the shortest rail and road entrances (36 and 38 km, respectively) will be required. The peculiarity of the option, which includes the Tuzla Spit in the orbit of the construction of the bridge, is the savings in the construction of access roads.
"Tuzlinsky option"
Spit Tuzla and the dam are located in the south of the strait, in its widest section. The construction in this part is significantly different from the design of the route connecting the port "Caucasus" in the east and the spit Chushka in the west:
- The “Tuzlin option” provides for the construction of the longest transport corridor. According to the project, the length of the bridge across the Kerch Strait will reach 11.7 km.
- Areas will be used for the construction of all related infrastructure, including warehouses and other premises.
- There will be an opportunity to protect Scythian burial mounds and other sights that are rich in the area from the influence of large-scale earthworks.
- Builders will try to bypass the unusual natural sites of Kerch and the Taman Peninsula - mud volcanoes.
Natural features of the Kerch Strait
The construction of the transport corridor will begin after the completion of geological, hydrological and other studies in the area of the construction of the bridge. The tectonic conditions here are complex, economic activity has a noticeable effect on the ecosystem. Planned activities should not prejudice the shipping and fishing wealth of the strait. In the projects, the designers tried to take into account the basic natural characteristics and conditions of the water space separating Taman and Crimea. Strait of Kerch (general indicators):
- origin is tectonic;
- length - 45 km;
- width - from 4.5 to 15 km;
- depth - 5-15 m;
- the extreme point of the Kerch Peninsula - metro Ak-Burun;
- the extreme point of the Krasnodar Territory - metro Tuzla;
- the climate is temperate continental.
Kerch Strait - the oldest transport corridor
The city of Kerch was founded by Greek settlers in the middle of the VI century BC. e. Here are found the ruins of the ancient city of Panticapaeum - the capital of the Bosporus kingdom. The area of the strait in ancient times was called the Cimmerian Bosporus because of its similarities with the Bosphorus between the Black Sea and the Aegean (Mediterranean Sea). The western part of the strait is washed by the Kerch peninsula of Crimea (Tauris). In the east is the Taman Peninsula. In the vicinity of Kerch, Scythian mounds, ancient fortifications, fortresses, and other historical and cultural monuments were found.
The communication between the western and eastern shores existed in ancient times. Cimmerians could ford their flocks through the shallow water connecting the Azov and Black Seas. The width of the Kerch Strait allowed merchants and fishermen to cross boats. The city of Kerch is listed as a UNESCO heritage site as the territory along which the Great Silk Road ran. The Kerch Strait was also part of the road called "from the Varangians to the Greeks." At its bottom, partially flooded ancient Greek cities, fragments of warships of the Ottoman Empire were found.
The History of the Bridge (1903–1953)
In the early twentieth century, the British government planned to build a railway route from England to the Crimea, a bridge across the Kerch Strait, and open the way to the Caucasus and India. There were not enough funds to implement the project. Emperor Nicholas II in 1903 also dreamed that the Russian state would build a bridge across the Kerch Strait between Kerch and Taman, but the 1914 war prevented the implementation of the plan. During the Great Patriotic War, the North Caucasus region and Crimea became the site of fierce battles between Germany and the USSR. German troops built a pontoon bridge across the Kerch Strait, but in the spring of 1943 the Fuhrer demanded to build a 5-kilometer permanent bridge.
The Nazi invaders did not manage to realize the idea of the bridge crossing by the German architect Albert Speer . After the Nazis were expelled from Taman and the Crimea, Soviet engineers reanimated the German project, the builders used the metal structures and equipment left by the Nazis. At the end of April 1944, piles began to be installed, and in early November of the same year the first train set off from the Krym station towards the Caucasus. In February 1945, the bridge collapsed under the pressure of ice blocks, which the wind and waves drove from the Sea of Azov. In 1953, a ferry service began linking Taman and Kerch.
Unrealized bridge designs
After the collapse of the USSR, Russia and Ukraine repeatedly raised the question of the transport corridor through the Kerch Strait. Since 1991, about 20 projects have been developed, in the discussion of which the presidents of Ukraine and Russia took part. In 2004, ferries serving the route were replaced, and negotiations entered a protracted phase. Work on the project revived in 2010, when a change of power took place in Ukraine. At one of the presentations, the parameters of construction were announced: the length of the bridge - 4.2-4.5 km, financing - 24 billion rubles. By Euro 2012, the transport crossing was supposed to connect the Caucasus and Crimea, but its construction was again postponed. They planned to build a bridge across the Kerch Strait on the eve of the Sochi Olympics. Then the interstate commission opted for the shortest “northern” option (from metro Fanar to metro Maly Kut). The project was left out of paper.
Krasnodar Territory - Crimea
When creating a new bridge, the existing ferry across the Kerch Strait will operate (port “Caucasus” - port “Crimea”). The season of 2014 promises to be “hot." To get to the Crimea on vacation, Russians travel by rail to Krasnodar or Anapa. From the capital of the Kuban or from the Black Sea coast, continue on a bus to the port of Kavkaz, then follow the ferry to the port of Crimea. Another option for delivering passengers is by catamaran from Anapa to the port of Kerch.
Kerch bridge: a look for tomorrow
According to experts, there are no obstacles to the construction of a new transport crossing. Russian experts in the field of geology and hydrology conducted the necessary coastal surveys and measurements of the Kerch Strait. Preference was given to the route options, called "Zhukovsky" and "Tuzlinsky." When evaluating these projects, many factors were taken into account, including the preservation of attractions on the banks of the strait. The bridge will connect two popular resort regions in need of development. The economy of the Crimean peninsula will receive a weighty addition to the transport infrastructure necessary for the development of production, seaports, communications, tourism and agriculture.