The south bridge in Samara is a reinforced concrete structure across the river of the same name connecting two areas: Kuybyshevsky and Zheleznodorozhny. Built in 1974, it is an important highway, through which the south of the regional capital leaves. Its cross-country capacity is approximately 6 thousand cars per hour. It is to him that the proposed article is devoted.
From the history of construction
Until 1974, the only bridge functioning in the city connecting the center of the regional capital and the Sukhoi Samarka - Northern district. This suited everyone, but only before the accident, which happened through the fault of a barge, which rammed the foundation of the structure. The then chairman of the city executive committee made a proposal - urgently to build a new bridge on the border of the two regions in order to avoid transport collapse and possible breakdown of communications.
So, Alexei Rosovsky inscribed his name in the history of the region. The south bridge in Samara was erected as soon as possible at the expense of the region. Funding from the federal treasury was directed to the additional construction of an overpass across the nearby railway. The flow of cars was distributed along two routes, which facilitated the movement and eliminated traffic jams. The south bridge in Samara was a real breakthrough in communication with the outlying Kuibyshev district.
Construction emergency
The first alarms about something was wrong on the bridge began to appear in the press in 2015. Motorists complained of uneven coverage, but authorities referred to the 2012 planned survey, which did not reveal any serious problems. They patched the road and reported upstairs that everything was safe. But in December 2016, scary photos appeared on the Web, and the need to repair the South Bridge in Samara became absolutely obvious, since a crack spread in the left lane into the city, making the passage unsafe. It can be seen in the photo below.
Overhaul was scheduled for 2017, but for now, the hole was temporarily patched. But the deepening remained, which led to the risk of accidents in the dark and kilometer congestion during the day.
Repair work
The preparatory phase began in the winter. For the 190 million rubles allocated under the federal project, it was planned to repair the spans, the bridge bed, replace the expansion joints, as well as update the outdoor lighting and put the towers in order. The work itself began on April 12, and its completion was planned for 2018. In fact, 248 million rubles were spent.
The traffic was not completely blocked, but regular buses were allowed on other routes. This turned out to be extremely inconvenient for the Southern City microdistrict. The entry of special vehicles with a carrying capacity of over 3.5 tons was also banned. For cars, one lane was allocated in both directions, which immediately caused kilometer traffic jams.
The south bridge in Samara is a familiar route for summer residents, residents of the Volga and Kinelsky districts, as well as visitors to the Rubezhnoye cemetery - one of the largest in the region. Therefore, during the summer period congestion occurred, lasting up to three hours. Residents of the "Southern City" chuckled at the townspeople who purchased housing in the Koshelev microdistrict, since it was extremely difficult to get there because of the repair of the Moscow highway. But now they themselves were in a similar position. For them, the most urgent was the question of when they will open the South Bridge in Samara.
Completion of repair
City authorities sought to expedite repair work. The townspeople gladly accepted the words of Sergei Parfyonov, one of the heads of the department dealing with urban issues, that the contractor is 14 days ahead of schedule and 92% completed the volume by September 2017.
A message appeared on Facebook stating that in South Samara the South Bridge will start operating on October 16th. This was stated by the official representative of the administration - Elena Ryzhkova. It remains to paint the spans, treat the concrete structures from corrosion and level the seams protruding from the roadway. By mid-autumn, traffic jams occurred up to 4 hours, so drivers and residents tuned in to the indicated date.
But the weather intervened. Rain did not allow the contractor to complete the work on the weekend, and on the 16th, motorists found that they still had a half-closed bridge. But after two days, the six-month difficulties were finally over. The weather took pity and allowed the authorities to give a final answer to the question of when the South Bridge will open in Samara. It happened on the 18th.
New complaints
So, the South Bridge in Samara is open, but motorists still are not satisfied with its technical condition. The city authorities refer to compliance with the standards, however, social activists did not believe the word and turned to the ONF under the name "Killed Roads of the Russian Federation", from where Vera Glukhova, the official representative, arrived.
After checking the expansion joints, she was forced to state: they do not go beyond the scope of GOST. But minor flaws were revealed, indicating the unfair performance of contract work:
- In one of the joints, the drain does not work properly.
- At the congress, the grille is slightly knocked out, which must be corrected.
Afterword
Public transport began to work, traffic jams disappeared, but the townspeople still have worries, but for how long? The reconstruction of the South Bridge in Samara was carried out by Volga missile defense complex. Contractors claim that the structure will last at least 50 years without repair. However, due to heavy transport, which is allowed to pass through it, the asphalt pavement will fail after 2, maximum 3 years.
The authorities and the traffic police need to think through a solution to this problem using bypass routes.