Komsomolsk-on-Amur road-rail bridge
| The bridge across the Amur River (Komsomolsk-on-Amur) | |
|---|---|
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| Crosses | Amur River |
| Locale | Komsomolsk-on-Amur |
| Official name | The bridge crossing over the Amur River near Komsomolsk-on-Amur |
| Characteristics | |
| Design | a single-rail track and two-lane highway |
| Material | ferroconcrete, steel, granite, asphalt |
| Total length | 1,435.32 metres (4,709.1 ft) |
| Height | 24 metres (79 ft) |
| Longest span | 319.97 metres (1,049.8 ft) |
| Number of spans | Four |
| History | |
| Designer | 'Lengiprotransmost' (LGTM) |
| Construction begin | 1969 |
| Opened | 26 September 1975 |
| Statistics | |
| Daily traffic | road-rail |
The bridge across the Amur River (in Komsomolsk-on-Amur) is a road-rail bridge across the Amur River near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The bridge has a single-rail track and two-lane highway that allows to completely divide automobiles and other traffic from trains.
Train service on the bridge began in 1975, while automobile traffic — in 1981. The bridge is a part of the railroad line Komsomolsk-on-Amur — Sovetskaya Gavan, and of the highway of regional significance R454 Khabarovsk — Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
History
In the period from June to September 1932, the first survey of the bridge across the Amur River on the future Baikal-Amur Mainline was conducted around the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, being under construction then. An exploration team of experts from the Institute Lengiprotransmost offered three main options of the crossing up to the village of Pivan' within the future city: above, below and within the city limits.
Before the bridge was opened for traffic, a regular ferry service had operated. After the opening of the railway line Khabarovsk — Komsomolsk-on-Amur — Sovetskaya Gavan, the automobiles had to cross the Amur River by railway ferries: Project 723, Volga (until 1952 — The ferry number 1), Don (until 1952 — The ferry number 2), Amur and Komsomolsk.[1][2] During the winter months, the ice was superimposed, and the crossing was made on temporary rails overice. Since 1961, to extend navigation in the autumn and winter, the ferries were led by icebreakers.
Construction of the bridge started in 1969. In October 1974, the last pillar was erected — as there were nine in number, the last span was installed on August 1, 1975. On September 26, 1975, the main bridge of the Baikal-Amur Mainline was solemnly opened for rail traffic: at midday, a passenger train from the station of Komsomolsk-on-Amur reached the first portal of the new bridge. The ferries that had operated more than 30 years at the crossing said goodbye to Amur by emitting a series of long beeps.
Design
A technical project for the road–rail bridge across the Amur River near the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur was elaborated in 1970 by the Design Institute "Lengiprotransmost" (LGTM) at the request of the USSR Transport Construction Ministry. The rail track on the bridge was designed for class S-14 loading, while the two-lane highway ― for class NC-80 and H-30 loadings in compliance with the current specifications and building codes. The bridge's metal structures were designed for the arctic service of the zone A.
The construction works were carried out by the Komsomolsk construction crew MO-26 of the trust "Mostostroy-8". In fact, two spans of the single-rail track and two-lane highway are resting on the common ferro-concrete pillars. The spans of the two-lane highway are fixed in the outboard supports (on the downstream side).
The total length of the bridge, including approaches from abutment to abutment, is 1 435.32 metres. The height above the water edge is 24 metres. A catchment area is 1 730 000 km2.
During the bridge's construction in the period 1970-1971, the method of Prof. Konstantin Silin (1913–1996) was applied for the first time in the domestic practice of bridge building for construction of pillars on the foundations of ferro-concrete sheaths with a diameter of 3 metres that excluded the use of the caissons, which had been traditionally used in the construction of large and road-rail bridges of the Trans-Siberian railway.
For anchoring the ferro-concrete sheaths into the bedrock, the reactive turbo-drilling method was applied for the first time in the world practice of bridge building. For this, a reactive turbodrilling machine of RTB-600 series was used. It consisted of three turbodrills for providing rotation of a rock-cutting tool in the form of roller cones.
After immersion to the design elevation, the sheaths were filled with concrete by the tremie method. Next, the sheaths were combined by a reinforced concrete slab with the use of sheet piling, on which a pillar's body was set in.
The foundations of intermediate supports were manufactured of ferro-concrete sheaths with a diameter of 3 metres to a standardized design by "Lengiprotransmost" with the use of concrete of Class М400 (B30) on durability and of Class F300 — on frost resistance, that were filled with underwater hydraulic monolithic concrete of Class M200 (B15). Reinforcing cages of rebar with a strength grade up to A-I and A-II (St5sp and St3sp steel grades) in diameter of 10 to 20 mm were embeded into the sheaths voids. In total, 304 sheaths were immersed during the construction.
The intermediate supports are massive prefabricated monolithic structures. They are dressed with granite slabs from the edges of the foundations up to the high-water level area and equipped with pointed ends on the upstream side serving as cutwaters with a vertical cutting surface. The bridge's sandstone masonry pillars were quarried from the Kiesovsky and Trikratninsky deposits.
Military outposts
The bridge is an important nodal point of the Baikal-Amur Mainline and a strategic-military objective. There are barbed wire entanglements into different rows, pillboxes, control towers on the left and right river banks near the bridge. Pedestrians and bicycles are forbidden on the bridge (other than in an organized column). There was also a military unit on the left bank at one time, which had a reduced copy of the bridge used for exercises.
Interesting facts
When present on the bridge in heavy wind, one can feel swinging.
References
Notes
- ↑ "Форум airbase.ru — Паромы". Archived from the original on 2012-07-15.
- ↑ "Тип Волга / Надым / Северный, проект 723". fleetphoto.ru. Archived from the original on 2012-09-17.)
See also
Coordinates: 50°28′26″N 137°01′32″E / 50.4738°N 137.0256°E