Kyiv To Start Building Pontoon Bridges Over Dnipro Kalashnyk

(MENAFN- UkrinForm) Infrastructure and Transport Minister Mykola Kalashnyk said this in an interview with Suspilne, Ukrinform reports.

According to the minister, the ministry's top priority is to strengthen existing bridge infrastructure and protect it from attacks in order to increase the resilience of the structures.

Kalashnyk added that authorities are currently considering a rapid option for connecting Kyiv's left and right banks if bridges are damaged: building embankment dams with pontoon crossings to maintain traffic across the Dnipro.

"Urgent solutions are a dam and a pontoon crossing, which can be built quickly. This work has already begun. A coordination meeting was held with the president. We received all the assignments, taking into account the critical situation. It was decided that the ministry, the Restoration Agency and the military, together with the city authorities, would take up this work," Kalashnyk said.

Read also: Russian attack damages road surface on Kyiv's Northern Bridge, blocking traffic to right bank

According to him, construction of such crossings could take up to three months, while the structures should provide at least half the capacity of the existing bridges.

"Preparatory work is currently underway, and construction will begin shortly. All infrastructure will be involved to ensure maximum throughput. On average, about 600,000 vehicles cross the bridges between Kyiv's left and right banks every day. And the task is to preserve this capacity. Therefore, locations have been identified where construction will begin," Kalashnyk said.

According to the minister, the locations where construction will begin have already been identified. Such work is planned not only in Kyiv but also in other regions of Ukraine and not only on the Dnipro.

In addition, the ministry is considering other options, including the construction of rapidly deployable concrete structures and, in the longer term, a tunnel under the Dnipro. However, such projects could cost tens of billions of hryvnias, so their implementation would be possible only with the support of partners.

"We can now start looking for investment, donors and international partners and implement what is needed to ensure a connection between the left and right banks. There are estimates – tens of billions of hryvnias, and sometimes, for huge infrastructure projects, hundreds of billions. So we do not currently have the financial capacity to afford this. But the task is to find such resources," Kalashnyk said.

At the same time, the main priority remains preserving the bridges and preventing their destruction. To this end, "the maximum possible amount of equipment has been deployed," the minister added.

"Obviously, every bridge has a certain safety margin. And our first task is to ensure protection from the air, which we are working on together with the military. So the first stage is to prevent hits. The second is to ensure protection. The third is rapid restoration. And the fourth is to make decisions on alternative backup crossings, that is, the construction of new facilities as alternative bridge infrastructure," Kalashnyk said.

As reported, Russian forces attacked Kyiv's Northern Bridge early on October 3. The attack damaged the roadway and the trolleybus overhead contact network.

On October 2, the Southern Bridge in Kyiv was completely closed to traffic following several enemy attacks.

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