The Ulyanovsk Bridge is among the longest in Europe. The upper deck of the bridge, as well as the connecting overpasses and highways have been opened to traffic.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The Ulyanovsk Bridge is among the longest in Europe. The upper deck of the bridge, as well as the connecting overpasses and highways have been opened to traffic.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The opening ceremony for the upper deck was held on November 24, 2009.
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© RIA Novosti . Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The opening ceremony was attended by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Azeri counterpart Ilham Aliev. “Mr. Aliev’s father, Heydar Aliev, who was the First Deputy Prime Minister of the USSR, was directly involved in the decision to build this bridge. I am happy that the current president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, is taking part in the ceremony,” the Russian president said. “This is an unprecedented project. Construction of such a great bridge reflects the capabilities of our country to meet our goals despite all the obstacles,” Dmitry Medvedev added.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
On November 6, 2009, a marathon swim relay across the Volga River near Ulyanovsk marked the bridge’s opening. Twenty swimmers covered a total distance of 4.9 km in icy water with a temperature of 4 degrees Celsius in 2 hours 40 minutes.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
Winter swimmers between 23 and 63 years of age from Perm, the Moscow and Novosibirsk regions, Tatarstan and the Far East took part in the marathon relay. The route was split into six stages of between 300 and 1,000 meters. Each participant could choose any stage he thought he could manage. The 1,050-meter swim set a new distance record.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The double deck bridge has a traffic capacity of 30,000 cars per day. The upper deck has four traffic lanes, the lower has two lanes.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The lower deck of the bridge is scheduled to open in 2012. Engineers say the bridge has a service life of no less than 100 years if well maintained.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
Construction of the bridge across the river Volga in Ulyanovsk took over 20 years.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
For the first time in Russia, pre-built spans weighing more than 4,000 tons were placed on pillars over 60 meters above the water’s surface.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
Modern construction technology helped save over a year and more than 1 billion rubles.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The bridge was ordered by the Ulyanovsk Region Motor Road Department. The primary contractor and the subcontractor are the Baltic Construction Company – St. Petersburg and Volgomost, respectively.
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© Photo courtesy of the Ulyanovsk Region Mass Media Department
The Ulyanovsk Bridge provides access to the federal highway system including the Kazan-Buinsk-Ulyanovsk, Cheboksary-Nizhny Novgorod-Vladimir-Moscow, Saransk-Ryazan-Moscow and the M-5 Urals routes while bypassing the city of Ulyanovsk.
