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Installation of Crimea bridge over Kerch Strait completed

The railway arch has been hoisted to the abutments over the navigation channel and fastened reliably at the designated elevation of 35 meters above water

© Crimea bridge infocenter

SIMFEROPOL, August 29. /TASS/. Construction companies said on Tuesday they had completed installation of the arch of the Crimea bridge in the permanent position, the Crimea Bridge Information Center said.

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"The operation in the sea to complete installation of the Crimea bridge arch is over," the report said. "The railway arch has been hoisted to the abutments over the navigation channel and fastened reliably at the designated elevation of 35 meters above water."

The center said the systems of ship warning lights and air navigation signals on the arch had already been switched on.

"The final assembly (of the arches) on the navigation channel abutments will take another three weeks, in the course of which the builders will assemble the end fittings of the structure and will put them on the supporting substructures," the report indicated.

Arch spans are the largest oversize elements of the Crimea bridge. Each of them has a length of 227 meters. The railway arch span weighs 6,000 tonnes and automobile arch span, 5,000 tonnes.

After placement on the navigation channel abutmens, they will ensure the passage of ships through a spare space 185 meters wide and 35 meters in height.

The second phase of the operation the installation of the automobile bridge arch, has been scheduled for September.

The Crimea bridge is destined to have a length of 19 km. Russia is building it in the framework of a federal purpose-oriented programme titled 'The Social and Economic Development of the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol through to 2020'.

The government provides full-size financing of the construction works.

The bridge will be open for automobile traffic as of December 2018 and for railway traffic, as of December 2019.

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