This bridge will take over the main flow of traffic between Chernihiv and Kyiv, relieve the bridge in Shestovytsia and road P-69 Kyiv-Vyshhorod-Desna-Chernihiv. And it will also finally bring back the opportunity for Chernihiv residents and guests of the city to leave the Kyiv highway directly into the city center, instead of circling around the suburbs.

The restoration of the structure, which was practically destroyed in March 2022, lasted almost a year. For our team, it was a year of extremely difficult tasks, unique engineering solutions, fighting the elements and great work.

How it was:

Summer 2022.

Avtostrada Design Institute developed a project for the reconstruction of the Chernihiv bridge in a record short time. At the same time, our bridge builders began dismantling the destroyed structure.

Autumn 2022.

Before starting the reconstruction, we needed to raise from the water the 400-ton fragments of the metal spans of the old bridge, which ended up at the bottom due to the explosions. It was a very difficult task, but the Autostrada engineers solved it. We brought in pyrotechnicians who blew up the flooded beams. A group of divers was involved, who cut the structure into pieces at a depth of 11 meters. They invented a special traction device that pulled to the shore those wrecks that could not be lifted by cranes and other equipment.

Winter 2022-2023.

The biggest flood in Desna in the last 129 years. Water flooded the entire construction area, the approaches to the bridge. They worked only from watercraft. But even this was not enough for the capricious Desna. Rika continued to show us her character. Fragments of ice came three times from the north. The raging current carried everything possible - sand, silt, tree roots. All this settled on the flooded bridge. In some places, the mud level reached 7 meters. But we also solved this problem - washed it away with a dredger.

Spring 2023.

Flood with new power. It would seem that all these factors should paralyze construction. But our team continued to work - both day and night. 24/7.

Divers cut the beams on the bottom by hand, despite the cold, current and almost zero visibility underwater (no more than 30 cm). We cleared the bottom and began to install the last supports.

Summer 2023.

The installation of all supports, beams and slabs has been completed. A barrier and a guardrail have been installed. Marking applied. Movement started.

Trial.

It is important that the rebuilt bridge has already passed all the tests stipulated by the current regulatory documents. We actually tested it during construction with our equipment, in particular cranes, the weight of which is much greater than the test loads.

How long will this bridge last?

The bridge near Chernihiv will work temporarily. After all, the Autostrada is simultaneously building a new 628-meter-long expressway here, which will become the new business card of the city next year. No one has ever built such bridges in Ukraine. This is a whole complex of reinforced concrete monolithic and metal structures for 4 traffic lanes, which will include traffic interchanges, underpasses, bicycle paths, and passageways for people with reduced mobility, etc.

After the completion of the new bridge, we will dismantle the temporary one.

More than 800 people and more than 200 pieces of equipment work around the clock on the construction of the Desna bridge.