MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. US sanctions against the companies that have contracts for building an epoch-making bridge between Crimea and the rest of Russia across the Kerch Strait will not affect the construction works as such in any way, a spokesperson for the customer of the project, FKU Uprdor Taman told TASS on Tuesday.

"The sanctions don’t wield any impact on the pace of (implementation of) the project," he said.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury made public an expansion of its blacklist of individuals and corporations from Russia that fell under the anti-Russian sanctions over the ongoing developments in Ukraine. The new entries in it are seven individuals, several dozens of organizations and two ships waving the Russian flag.

The companies Stroyproyekt and Karst are among the corporations and organizations placed under the sanctions for their engagement in construction of the Kerch Strait Bridge. Stroyproyekt is the designer of approach routes to the future bridge in the Krasnodar territory on the continental shore of the Sea of Azov and on the Crimean side of the Kerch Strait, while Karst is building the piled foundations and abutments of the bridge, as well as the Tauride federal road in Crimea.

The main goal of the Kerch Strait Bridge project is to upgrade transport accessibility of the Republic of Crimea, which does not have direct transport connections with other parts of Russia across mainland that would not depend on weather conditions.

In January 2015, the Russian government selected a unified contractor. FKU Uprdor Taman and the company Stroygazmontazh signed a federal contract for designing and construction of the bridge to Crimea in February 2015.

Construction and assembly works started out in February 2016 after approving conclusions on the project documentation from the federal enterprise for expert studies Glavekspertiza and the Federal Road Agency.

The total cost of the project stood at 227.92 billion rubles (about $ 3.67 billion at the current exchange rate).

The Russian government hopes to launch automobile traffic through the bridge in December 2018 and trains, in December 2019.