Crimea bridge motorway arch sails off for complex installation operation

Russian engineers have finished assembling and begun transporting the massive road arch of the Crimea bridge which will link mainland Russia with the Crimean peninsula.

Vessels with floating pylons carrying the massive arch, weighing almost 5,500 tons, set off on the five-kilometer journey to deliver one of the centerpieces of the road section of the Kerch Strait Bridge this morning. The colossal 45-meter arch will grace a 227-meter segment of the 19-kilometer-long bridge.

The delivery of the arch from the assembly line in Kerch is being carried out by a fleet of tugboats led by a three-thousand horsepower tug, a number of smaller boats and supporting auxiliary ships. More than 100 specialists and experts, ranging from ballast operations engineers to divers, are involved in the operation.

Once the arch reaches its destination point, the floating system will be anchored between two fixed bridge supports. This will be followed by the key stage of the maritime operation – the lifting of the arch, the RT reported.