Volgograd completes installing vibration absorbers on "dancing" bridge

The bridge across the Volga River in Volgograd, which was closed in May 2010 due to strong vibrations, now has its counterweights (shock absorbers) in place. The cost of the works amounted to 112 million roubles.

The reinforcement of the bridge was undertaken under recommendations of experts of the Central Aero-Hydrodynamic Institute (CAHI). Now, the three bridge spans stretching over the water have special devices intended to absorb vibrations - dampers, each weighing 5.2 tons.

"We are now able to guarantee the safety of traffic on the bridge. We are now confident that the bridge will never 'dance', like it was on May 20 last year," said the governor Anatoly Brovko.

According to his story, the "dance" of the Volgograd bridge was unprecedented in the world operating practice of beam bridges; therefore, all the equipment was made individually for the Volgograd bridge structure by the German-based company "Maurer", the RIA "Novosti" reports.

Let us remind you that the fame to the bridge in Volgograd, nicknamed by people as "dancing", was brought by strong oscillations of the already commissioned structures, which were recorded on May 20, 2010. The traffic on the bridge was stopped; and it was checked by inspectors.

Besides, the Department for the Volgograd Region of the Russian MIA opened a criminal investigation into the theft of 15 million roubles allocated from the federal budget on construction of the bridge across the Volga River in Volgograd. Earlier, the Russian Audit Chamber had concluded that at construction of the "dancing" bridge in Volgograd financial violations were admitted amounting to 152 million roubles.