Crimea's transport infrastructure needs to be developed synchronously with Kerch bridge construction - Putin
TUZLA ISLAND (Crimea). March 18 (Interfax) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the construction of the Kerch Bridge needs to be linked to a higher throughput capacity and an upgrade of the entire transport infrastructure in the peninsula, including a highway from Kerch to Simferopol.
The head of state also said he hopes the pace of the work, which has been taken in the construction, will be kept.
"I hope that the pace taken in the works will be preserved. I recall, according to the plans, the start of motor and rail traffic is scheduled on December 18, 2018. And here, I want to stress the following: a rise in the throughput capacity and the upgrading of the entire transport infrastructure in Crimea, including a highway from Kerch to Simferopol, needs to link to the bridge construction," Putin said at a meeting on socio-economic development in the region on Friday.
"Yesterday, we discussed with some colleagues: it should not be allowed for the bridge to be built, but other transport infrastructure not be prepared, and congestion would take place. More or less senseless work will be done then. It is needed to work synchronously, for this not to happen. We need a modern rail traffic system, which operates in unison and at a common rhythm," the head of state also said.
The general contractor of building the bridge across the Kerch Strait is Arkady Rotenberg-owned Stroygazmontazh Ltd. (SGM), a state contract with which was concluded in February 2015. The Main State Expertise Directorate issued a positive resolution for the bridge project a year later. It also confirmed the estimated cost of the project at 211.9 billion roubles (at the Q4 2015 prices).
It is planned for the bridge to connect the Crimean Peninsula with the Russian mainland both by a highway and a railway. The projected throughput capacity of the highway (four lanes will be built) is 40,000 vehicles a day. The railway will include two tracks with a daily throughput capacity of 47 pairs of trains. An arch-shaped span, 227 meters long and 35 meters high, is envisaged for the passage of ships.
In December 2018, bridge traffic will be in working mode. In the summer of 2019, it is due to be put into operation.