Many people are fascinating by bridges. A bridge is a link, connection, help, exchange, and peace. Wars ruin bridges, peace builds them.
A story of this BRIDGE started at the end of 80s in Kyiv, a capital of Ukraine. Kyiv is a big city situated on two banks of the Dnipro river. 1/3 of the city’s population which is 2.8 million people live on the left bank. Every morning inhabitants of two overpopulated districts – Troeschina and Kharkovskij cross the river heading towards their offices on the right bank via two closest bridges. Many of them take a ride in the metro, which is very good, convenient and fast, but small. The size and population of Kyiv is comparable to Berlin. There are 176 metro stations in Berlin metro and 52 stations – in Kyiv.
So, some use other kinds of public transport: trolleybuses, marshrutkas, and buses. Some percentage – drive in their own cars. Every morning and every evening both the city and its inhabitants spend some time in traffic jams. Not nice! In total, there are 7 bridges between two banks. It is not enough for such a big city. At the end of 80s the city administration initiated a new project – a complex of combined bridges for trains, pedestrians, and road traffic above two rivers – Dnipro and Desenka, and bridges overpass.
The story our BRIDGE begins!
The end of 80s was a bad time to start such costly and complicated project. The USSR collapsed in 1991, independent Ukraine had inflation and chaos in its economy. THE BRIDGE existed on paper until 1993 when the construction eventually began. In 10 years, in 2003, it was not finished yet. The engineering-contractor “Mostobud” announced opening of THE BRIDGE several times.
The most dangerous accident happened in 2011 when a special huge crane collapsed during construction. That crane was given a personal name – Zakharij. It was built specially for THE BRIDGE and was counted as the most expensive crane ever built in Ukraine. Only Zakharij could lift final arch-like constructions. Dear Zakharij could not stand such pressure and collapsed into the Dnipro River. Fortunately, no one was injured. And THE BRIDGE was not finished.
Today, in 2017, THE BRIDGE will celebrate 24th anniversary of its constructions!
Here is a link to the video about the Bridge… only Ukrainian version, sorry
