Since 1991, around 37 km of motorway tunnels have been built in Russia. More than 19 kilometers of them are in Sochi. In the near future, during the construction of the new highway Goryachiy Klyuch - Sochi in Krasnodar Krai, this accumulated experience will be applied and appreciably expanded: over 90 kilometers of the total length of the prospective highway out of about 150 kilometers will have to be cut through the rocks. During the XI Road Initiatives Forum, the participants of the session "Innovative Technologies and Intelligent Transportation Systems in Road Construction" paid much attention to the construction of this long-awaited road.
Mikhail Poligalov, Head of the Tunnel Construction and Special Works Department, the Tunnel Construction Directorate of the M-12 highway Directorate of the Russian Highways State Company, explained the session participants that the tunnels of the future route are to be bored in two ways: with the help of tunnelling machines (TBMC) and the traditional mining method. Tunnelling machines are more expensive to use, consume megawatts of electricity, but they are three times faster than cutting-loading machine, and besides, they enable to decrease the amount of land allotted for construction and reduce the number of construction sites required. This, he said, will minimize the impact on the Krasnodar Krai's natural resources, including specially protected natural areas.
When constructing tunnels, road builders face four critical groups of issues: engineering and geological conditions, arrangement of the construction process itself, fire safety and tunnel ventilation. One of the most complex and vital tasks, especially within the boundaries of the Sochi National Park, is where to dispose of the immense amount of excavated soil, the volume of which, for instance, during the construction of the Adler Bypass tunnel with a total length of about 12 km, will be totalling 1.8 million cubic meters. According to Mikhail Poligalov, in cooperation with the expert environmental community, an engineering decision on the use of this soil for backfilling of mined-out quarries, including those in the sea area, is currently undergoing examination by environmental protection agencies.
Groundbreaking technological solutions and innovative developments designed to ensure reliability, safety and durability of structures in a wide range of conditions were presented in the course of the event.
The session participants were also citing the advances in domestically manufactured technologies. Thus, Russia has successfully established its own suspension bridge system, which ensured technological sovereignty in the area of suspension bridge construction. New approaches and domestic materials have already formed the ground for advanced projects, opening up opportunities for large-scale deployment of bleeding-edge solutions.
Special attention was paid to the architectural expressiveness of the bridges. It is now an integral part of design decisions. Road structures adorn the surrounding space through carefully developed visual concepts, artistic lighting and other solutions.
Besides, the issues of protection of road structures were considered. Among them were the implementation of a set of measures to protect structures from the influence of climatic conditions, aggressive environments, fires and other risks.
The session demonstrated that road structures represent a point of reference for technological progress and professional mastery.
