Rain washes billions of Russian rubles away into dirt

The Rudnevsky bridge, whose repairs began this spring, was re-opened in Vladivostok urgently. The bridge was opened ahead of schedule because of the collapse of the road to the "Summit-2012" that the federal government allocated 21 billion rubles to. The investigation revealed that there was one detail missed out of attention during the construction of the road - the drainage. The first storm was devastating.

A week later, an accident on the road leading to the island Russian concerned the federal government. On Monday, June 18, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev made a request to punish all those responsible for the accident in Vladivostok, where the roadbed of the new site Sedanka-Patroclus literally "slipped" onto the beach and garages of the local residents as a result of torrential rains. The head of the government stressed that those involved in the incident should be punished both in the framework of criminal liability, and financially. In addition, the company that carried out the construction of the new roads, according to the Prime Minister, may expect the worst-case end - bankruptcy.

In this regard, the authorities in Vladivostok continue to investigate the causes of the collapse of the road where billions of federal money have been invested. The section of the road was built specifically for the APEC summit, and was opened in the test mode, but the ambitious project failed right away, which resulted in a number of questions: was it a construction mistake or the desire of certain builders to earn at the public expense. The initiated investigation has led to unexpected results: the builders forgot to build one important detail - the drainage, which became a devastating negligence in heavy rains.

Meanwhile, the Khabarovsk branch of "GiprodorNII" refutes the statement by the Governor of Primorsky Krai, Vladimir Miklushevsky, who arrived on the scene and concluded that the incident was the fault of the designers. Engineers from "GiprodorNII" shift the blame on the creators of the project, a company engaged in construction - JSC "Pacific Bridge Construction Company". At the moment, the responsibility of neither one of the companies has been proven, however, everyone who visited the site confirmed that there was no drainage.

Negligence of the firms- members of the grandiose project of the so-called "road to the summit" have caused a lot of troubles in the capital of Primorye. The first difficulty was experienced by motorists, who on June16, not knowing about the accident, were going to drive on the just opened road. However, the track "Sedanka-Patroclus" was already blocked, causing traffic jams. The authorities, wishing to solve this problem, hurried the maintenance crews working on the Rudnevsky Bridge. As a result, the overpass was started as early as Monday.

The first car on the Rudnevsky bridge built in the 1970's with violation of technology, was a police car, followed by the car of the mayor of Vladivostok Igor Pushkarev, and then the "mere mortals". The bridge is an important artery of the Primorye capital, but it is intended only for car traffic. In order to prevent heavy trucks, constraints will be installed on the viaduct in the form of three-meter rack, otherwise the trucks will destroy the bridge in a few days.

It will not be easy for the pedestrians either, because the pavement is replete with holes and cracks. In addition, there is no lighting on the bridge. But it does not matter, according to local authorities, as the important thing here is that the overpass does not collapse. As the saying goes, one should chose the lesser evil.

Meanwhile, local officials plan to build a new, four-lane Rudnevsky Bridge. This proposal was included in the program "Development of Promorsky Kray by 2017," but it is premature to think about the implementation of this idea. Obviously, until the new route leading to the island Russian starts to operate, Rudnevsky Bridge in its miserable condition would be indispensable for the dispersal of traffic flows in the capital of Primorye.

Another task of the local authorities is to pay compensation to the victims, whose boat garages were under the rubble of a promising road. As noted by the regional administration, all losses will be fully reimbursed. In addition, the government offered them to build new garages on a nearby site, away from the highway under construction. In turn, the victims thought it was a good option, and gave their consent. Vice-governor of Primorsky Krai suggested this week to give the construction of new garages to locals, and if it does not cause objections, the construction work will be conducted by CJSC "TMK."  

Meanwhile, the summit will be held in September of 2012, and by that time Sedanka-Patroclus road should be fully restored. However, Dmitry Medvedev at a meeting on June 18 said that the rectification of errors he assigned to the local authorities had to be done as quickly as possible. The current situation in Vladivostok is tightly controlled by First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, and the opening of the new route is scheduled for July 1.

Maria Snytkova.