As it became known, the translation of the contract for the construction of the bridge to the Crimea on treasury support, due to which suspended construction funding is delayed. Interlocutor publication said that the sum of the above will be transferred to the treasury account of the contractor - the company "Stroygazmontazh" - two tranches until early September.

Earlier, the government officially postponed for a year - in December of 2019 - the start of the temporary movement of trains on the bridge Kerch. Prior to this launch train was scheduled to start simultaneously with the start of the traffic in operation - in December 2018. Currently on the Kerch bridge fitters started assembling navigable spans - key elements, said last week the information center "Crimean bridge." The construction of the grandiose bridge designed to connect Crimea and Kuban, in fact today announced a major national construction project, designed to demonstrate the power of the state. The scale of construction is really impressive, but the enormity of the object will be able to disguise except that Fie, that in general the construction of bridges in the country, the situation is very problematic.

Where the bridge spans are cut off above the river

In mid-July, in the framework of the 27th International Economic and Trade Fair held in Harbin, the governor of Russia's Amur Region Governor Alexander Kozlov and the Chinese province of Heilongjiang Lu Hao solemnly signed an agreement on construction of the bridge across the Amur River . According to the agreement the new bridge will connect the city of Blagoveshchensk and Heihe, opening opportunities in the future for international business. At the same time building itself will ensure the creation of 1,400 jobs. In the US, where the number of rivers, requiring the construction of above-ground transition, 10 times less than in Russia, there are at the same time 600 thousand. Bridges. Moreover, every ninth bridge inRussia - a wooden one.

Joy events clouded only one thing: the fact that a similar Russian-Chinese project has already taken place before. Even in 2008, Moscow and Beijing have agreed among themselves on the level of government to establish a border bridge in the Jewish Autonomous Region. dlboth countries, the project was more than beneficial - the appearance of the bridge would allow to increase the demand for coal supply from Russia to China through almost five-fold reduction in the distance from producer to customers. At the same time the construction of the main part of the bridge fall on the shoulders of the Chinese people. Since then, I went to the second decade. The result of implementation of the agreement can be seen on photos: 17 poles and 16 spans, built by China, abruptly cut off above the river - the 300-meter Russian part of the structure, and so remains unfinished.

On different sides

This picture is probably best placed to describe the situation in the domestic bridge construction. Bridges in Russia is not enough. At first glance, nothing terrible happens - according to RBC at the end of 2014 there were 42 thousand highway bridges and overpasses, as well as 30.5 thousand rail ... However, in the US, where the number of rivers, requiring the construction of above-ground transition, 10 times less than in Russia, there are at the same time 600 thousand. Bridges! Moreover, every ninth bridge in Russia - a wooden one. And the condition of the overpassin generally poor. Not without reason in the past 20 years in the country annually recorded at least one bridge collapse.

It is appropriate to recall that even 15 years ago, the Ministry of Transport has promised by 2005 to put in order all the bridges that are in poor condition. However, the sounding criticism is usually divided about the calls stop denigrate reality and to draw attention to a number of grandiose sites that have emerged in the country in recent years. Here you can not argue - boast officials really have something. So, for the Olympic Games in Sochi 46 road and railway bridges were built. In 2012, we opened a cable-stayed bridge across the Eastern Bosphorus Strait, linking Vladivostok with a Russian island. There's also the APEC summit were the bridges over the Amur Bay and the Golden Horn.

However, each of these buildings, in fact, similar to the one that now is carried out in the Kerch Strait: giant bridges were built in order to impress the world, not sparing with money. No wonder that now the police are trying to figure out what had become of the allocated funds. Thus, during the construction of the bridgegone through the Bosporus metal almost 100 million rubles. The same amount of money was stolen during the construction of the bridge across the Golden Horn. In this regard, the experts explain why the construction of large bridges is given priority - the higher estimate, the more you can steal.

Ministry of Transport does not hear

Meanwhile, on August 24 it became known that in Yakutia collapsed road bridge across the river Menkule. The authorities have already hastened to assure that the reason was the state of emergency, apparently careless truck driver who ignored the sign prohibiting traffic on the bridge of vehicles weighing over 15 tonnes. As a result, the structure did not withstand the weight and collapsed.

However, all this seems to be an attempt to justify their own errors. The first bridges to exist, to them it was possible to transport goods. Secondly, this is not the first incident of its kind - in July in Yakutia collapsed bridge on the river Elga, which is part of the federal highway "Kolyma".

If the responsible officials will not change the attitude to the bridge construction, the collapse will occur and the distancee sure General Director of "Transsahamost" of Yakutia Vasily Mazur. For two decades he's trying to attract attention to the problem. According to Mazur, bridge building in Russia has turned into a comfortable feeding trough for kickbacks and cuts. "The designers have an incentive to the project cost, from general contractors - a percentage of the value of the object, and the customer - bribe from associates", - says Mazur, citing as an example of reinforced concrete bridges with a variety of supports . "So, station Neryungri Passenger, where there are 10 tracks, 10 bridges built on 12 pillars under the bridge. More reasonable would be the project of reinforced concrete arch bridge. But, as I have long been understood, it is contrary to the commercial interests of railway workers. "

Also honored builder, who started to work more on BAM, according to the principle of erroneous decision to build bridges instead of steel reinforced concrete, which are more durable and require virtually no maintenance. Vasiliy Mazur has repeatedly tried to convey their thoughts to the management of Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, but each time the attempt is unsuccessful. As a result, he is nowI sent a letter to Vladimir Putin, hoping that at least at the top of the pyramid of state power he still heard.

However, even if the authorities decide to deploy large-scale construction of bridges, hardly losing weight budget permits. As RBC notes all the money sent today to finance the construction of the Crimean Bridge. Including those who were laid for the construction of the first bridge across the Lena River in Yakutia, designed to finally connect the region's capital with the "big land". So it will have to wait.