Unique bridge crossing over Yuribey in Yamal

The bridge crossing over the Yuribey River, a part of the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad. The Bovanenkovskoye field with its ABC1+C2 gas reserves totaling 4.9 trillion cubic meters is the largest gas field of Yamal. The new railroad thoroughfare designed to connect Yamal’s fields with the transportation infrastructure of northern Ural, will become a crucial component of the national strategic project – the Yamal Peninsula’s fields development. The year-round delivery of cargoes, equipment and workforce to develop Yamal will enable to rapidly form on the Peninsula a new gas production province of a fundamental importance for Russia’s gas industry development over the next decades.

This is a unique construction unparalleled in the global practice of bridge building. The crossing with the length of approximately four kilometers is the longest bridge beyond the Polar Circle. Its operating life accounts for 100 years. The bridge crossing over the Yuribey River floodplain is the most complicated section of the Obskaya – Bovanenkovo railroad. It is the world’s longest bridge beyond the Polar Circle and is unparalleled in the global bridge construction practice both in terms of design and the climatic and permafrost conditions of construction and operation (permafrost soil and high degree of bogginess). The crossing has the length of 3.9 kilometers, the total weight – over 30 thousand tons, the operating life – 100 years.

The most advanced technical solutions were applied during the construction process in the aim of preserving the floodplain ecosystem of the Yuribey River. In particular, the crossing was constructed avoiding the traditional deposition of soil, which enabled to retain the floodplain’s original environment.

The construction is mainly specific for the crossing arms. To secure their reliability the arms were made of 1.2–2.4 millimeters metal pipes, buried into the wells drilled under the permafrost conditions at the depth of 20–40 meters and filled with armored concrete. The innovative technologies developed by Russian scientists and engineers enable to protect the permafrost soil from thawing.

Source of information: Gazprom