The construction of a bridge across the Belaya River in Bashkortostan — the most ambitious structure at the Dyurtiuli-Achit expressway under construction that is going to be part of the extension of the M-12 "Vostok" highway to Yekaterinburg — has been completed. The bridge has successfully passed acceptance tests for compliance with safety and actual load-bearing capacity requirements — this is the final stage of quality control of construction and installation works before the final acceptance committee.
In order to carry out the inspection, the experts with Avtodor-Engineering OOO developed a comprehensive program including both static and dynamic tests. As part of the acceptance test, 12 dump trucks weighing 35 tons each drove onto the bridge. Besides, the load-bearing capacity of the bridge's structures was also tested with twin trucks weighing up to 80 tons and 32 meters long.
The bridge across the Belaya River is 813 meters long. The structure is borne by 11 supports, the tallest of which reaches 29 meters. At its peak, about 700 workers and 50 units of machinery of various types were engaged in the bridge construction. Over 60 thousand cubic meters of reinforced concrete and more than 3.5 thousand tons of guss asphalt were utilized in the construction of the bridge crossing over the Belaya River. Among the benefits of guss asphalt are excellent wear resistance, high moisture resistance, long life cycle, and resistance to temperature fluctuations.
The supports of the bridge across the Belaya River were built using a unique technology of continuous concreting with sliding formwork, which drastically cut down the construction time. It is noteworthy that in previous years imported structures had been applied in formwork systems. Those were steel and aluminum frames used in the production of bridge decks, spans, sections, etc. Now they have been replaced by their Russian counterparts. They are manufactured in compliance with European technologies, but fully adapted to Russian conditions and by no means are inferior in quality.
Furthermore, the following metal products were used in the bridge construction: about 2.5 thousand meters of crash barrier, about 7.5 thousand tons of reinforcement steel — all made in Russia.
On the whole, the 1st Stage of the Dyurtyuli-Achit road in the Republic of Bashkortostan is over 80% ready. More than 20 million m3 of soil was cut and more than 14.5 million m3 of embankment was filled for the construction of 140 km of the expressway. To date, over 1 million 200 thousand tons of bitumen concrete mix have been installed.
Work is underway on crash barrier and mesh fencing, curbs, supports for road signs, surface signage and installation of noise screens.
Works on the motorway illumination are in progress. To date, around 800 thousand meters of electric cable have been set up, over 5 thousand lighting poles and the same number of innovative lamps with PLC-modules have been mounted, which allow remote control of their operation from an auxiliary control point, which will also function at the road section in Bashkiria. This control point is now 90% ready. All data from transformer substations, telemechanics, outdoor lighting systems and CCTV cameras will be gathered there. Using special software, its operators will be able to manage the traffic system in its entirety online.
The Dyurtyuli-Achit expressway is 275 km long, it will run across the territory of Bashkortostan, Perm Krai and Sverdlovsk Oblast. A total of 99 road structures will be constructed along the expressway, including overpasses, bridges and wildlife crossings.
