Why Russia's Billion-Dollar Bridge Was Deemed A Vanity Project
In 2012, Russia built a billion-dollar Russky Bridge. However, many call this project a 'bridge to nowhere.'
The Russky Bridge is located in the Peter the Great Gulf, across the narrow strait of Eastern Bosphorus, and it has some impressive features. The bridge costs a splendid $1.1 billion, with four lanes, two on each side. The Russky Bridge is said to be capable of handling 50,000 cars per day. Apart from this, it features a record-breaking longest cable bridge in the world. The length of the cable is 1,104 m. It connects the second largest city in the Russian far east, Vladivostok, to the sparsely populated Russky Island.
The Russky Bridge is undoubtedly an engineering marvel. The bridge's construction began in 2008, and in just four productive and hardworking years, the Russky Bridge was developed. Massive pylons were constructed to support the cables and stand 390.2 m tall. They also required 20,000 m of concrete mix to build a staggering height. Two such pylons were built on either side of the cable state roadway.
To build the foundation, 77 m deep piles were driven below ground to support the humungous A-shaped pylons. The pylons also required concrete which was done using custom self-climbing pores and forms of 4.5 m. The enormous size of the bridge required cranes to build the first three pores. Next up are the cables.
These cables help the bridge to be stabilized. To balance a bridge this large, 579.8 m long cables were developed, and the bridge was then beautified. To honor the Russian flag, the cables were painted red, white, and blue. At night, the gigantic pylons were illuminated with bright light. All in all, it gave the appearance of a giant Russian flag draped over the bridge. Overall, the bridge was a delight to the eyes.
However, besides the magnificent architecture, why was the Russky Bridge deemed as a vanity project?
The sole purpose of building the Russky Bridge was to serve the 2012 Asia pacific economic cooperation (APEC) conference. This is a summit to promote free trade between the pacific rim nations. The conference was conducted at the Far East Federal University. This university is on Russky Island.
Russky Island is sparsely populated and has only 5,360 inhabitants. The local boats and ferries sufficed the transportation needs of the residents. Also, the far eastern federal university campus was the only highlight of Russky Island. Besides, the bridge's cost was unnecessarily exorbitant considering that only a few 1000 cars and tourist buses used the bridge. So, the remaining space for 49,000 cars was pretty much wasted.
Engineers worked tirelessly to design the bridge. The workers also put in thousands of hours building the bridge as quickly as possible. Building a bridge the size of Russky was not a simple task. Before handing the project to workers, engineers had to ensure that the design was a hundred percent correct. Once they were positive, they handed the plans over. Also, the added stress of completing the project before the summit did not ease the matters. Plus, the extreme weather conditions made the construction of the bridge even more challenging.
The inclement weather made the bridge's construction more challenging than it would be in a milder climate. During winters, laborers faced wind speeds of 36 meters per second, resulting in 6 m high waves. The ice in the eastern Bosphorus region reached a thickness of 70cm, and the winter temperatures reached minus 31 degrees Celsius. Summers were not of much help either. Workers faced intensive blistering heat, and the summer temperatures in Vladivostok reached 33 degrees Celsius.
Large amounts of materials were added to the stress. A special railway track of 1300 m had to be constructed only to transport materials. Also, two vast production houses were required to be built. One production facility was on Russky Island, while the other was built on the Nazimova Peninsula. This further added to the costs. Since many workers lived on the site, living quarters also were constructed. Naturally, canteens also had to be put up to serve the hunger needs of the workers.
This was just the beginning of materials. More than 900 m of viaducts had to be built to provide the bridge an approach. The concrete and steel viaduct columns ranged in height from 9 to 30 m. Before beginning the construction, 1.3 million cubic meters of dust and rocks had to be scooped out to build the construction sites. These sites were constructed on each area of the east Bosphorus strait.
The graph reflecting the number of resources and efforts vs. the outcome showed a negative gradient. This may be one of the reasons for deeming the billion-dollar bridge a vanity project. However, on the brighter side, this bridge has been a tourist attraction and has increased tourism. The actual goal of building this bridge was to turn Russky island into a business and academic hub. Indeed, The University on Russky Island is now estimated to have 41,000 students on their campus.
Source: You Tube, Amusing Planet.
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