Paton Bridge is in critical condition: Kyiv City State Administration asks the government to urgently restore it
2 August 2024 01:38
The Kyiv authorities have asked the government to restore the Paton Bridge across the Dnipro River and the approaches to it to avoid emergencies. The letter was signed by Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko, "Komersant Ukrainian" reports, citing the KCSA press service.
The KCSA said that the city had repeatedly appealed to the relevant ministry for restoration work, “but no work has been done to improve the condition of the building for two years.”
The KCSA Department of Transport Infrastructure noted that over the years, the authorities had regularly inspected the bridge and kept it in good working order. At the insistence of the Government and the Ministry of Communities, Territories and Infrastructure Development of Ukraine, Kyiv transferred the bridge to the Big Construction project for repair in August 2023. The Infrastructure Restoration and Development Service was appointed as the customer for the repair work.
The Institute of Electric Welding has demanded that the Paton Bridge be closed immediately for repairs. The metal thickness of the bridge’s lower girders has been severely reduced, sometimes by up to five millimetres, due to corrosion that appeared there after the change of communications under the sidewalks.
“There is severe corrosion there, and we need to remove a lot of garbage because it becomes wet and accelerates corrosion,” the Institute explained.
The director of the Institute noted that in recent years he had sent appeals to Vitali Klitschko and Denys Shmyhal explaining that the bridge would soon collapse. The Department of Welded Structures Strength is ready to help with the repair of the bridge, “this process has just begun.” According to preliminary estimates, at least 500 million euros are needed for repairs.
The destructive processes on the bridge began in 2013, when communications were being changed under the sidewalks. During the work, debris got onto the metal structures – when it gets wet, corrosion accelerates.
“For more than 70 years of operation, the Paton Bridge has never been overhauled,” said the Institute’s director.
“The Paton Bridge was officially declared an emergency in 2017 and cannot be used. However, it was not closed, only traffic was restricted. Last year, the bridge was found to have significant damage – corrosion of beams and main girder elements, longitudinal cracks in the surfaces of the supports, and concrete destruction.
