07.04.2025
On April 7, a press conference for federal and regional media was held at the TASS press center in Moscow. It was dedicated to one of the largest transport projects in modern Russia - the construction of a bridge crossing over the Lena River in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
This is a large-scale infrastructure project that has no analogues in global bridge construction. No one has ever built cable-stayed bridges in such harsh climatic conditions, in the permafrost zone. Today, the construction of the Lena Bridge is one of the key initiatives in the field of the country’s infrastructure development. The project is included in the National Program for the Development of the Far East, and is a part of the six-year plan for road construction of the Government of the Russian Federation for 2025-2030, as well as of the master plan for the development of Yakutsk.
“The construction certainly involves all of Russia and goes far beyond the scope of a purely regional project both in scale and in the number of resources involved,” said Gadzimagomed Guseinov, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. “The bridge was designed by the St. Petersburg institute Giprostroymost, since they are the only one designing such facilities today. The concessionaire is VIS Group, which also operates in most of Russia and has extensive experience.”
The first bored pile for the bridge support was poured with concrete on October 17, 2024. To date, construction of bridge infrastructure facilities is underway on both riverbanks. Work has begun here to install bored piles for the bridge crossing supports; the pile foundations of the first three supports have been completed, and the next two are in progress. The length of the piles reaches 41 m; each one is sunk several meters below ground level. A total of 920 piles will need to be concreted for the construction of bridge infrastructure facilities, 300 of which will be in the 2025 construction season. Each bank has its own concrete plants to meet the needs of the builders. Both plants are winterized, which allows for the production of high-quality mix even in the harsh climatic conditions of Yakutia.
The Chairman of the Government of Yakutia, Kirill Bychkov, spoke about the project's preconditions, the rationale for choosing the highway’s location, and the main technical parameters of the unique bridge. The height of the central pylon reaches 285 meters, which is comparable to the height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The three-pylon cable-stayed structure was introduced due to the complex hydrological conditions of the Lena River, where active ice drift and flooding are observed annually. All bridge structures have been designed with this in mind, and certain construction technologies have been provided for, including the first-ever use of floating cofferdams in Russia.
The project is being implemented with federal co-financing and extra-budgetary investments. The grantor is the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the investor, concessionaire and general contractor is VIS Group, the financial partner is Sber.
“The construction certainly involves all of Russia,” says First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic about the construction of the Lena Bridge
This is a large-scale infrastructure project that has no analogues in global bridge construction. No one has ever built cable-stayed bridges in such harsh climatic conditions, in the permafrost zone. Today, the construction of the Lena Bridge is one of the key initiatives in the field of the country’s infrastructure development. The project is included in the National Program for the Development of the Far East, and is a part of the six-year plan for road construction of the Government of the Russian Federation for 2025-2030, as well as of the master plan for the development of Yakutsk.
“The construction certainly involves all of Russia and goes far beyond the scope of a purely regional project both in scale and in the number of resources involved,” said Gadzimagomed Guseinov, First Deputy Minister of the Russian Federation for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic. “The bridge was designed by the St. Petersburg institute Giprostroymost, since they are the only one designing such facilities today. The concessionaire is VIS Group, which also operates in most of Russia and has extensive experience.”
The first bored pile for the bridge support was poured with concrete on October 17, 2024. To date, construction of bridge infrastructure facilities is underway on both riverbanks. Work has begun here to install bored piles for the bridge crossing supports; the pile foundations of the first three supports have been completed, and the next two are in progress. The length of the piles reaches 41 m; each one is sunk several meters below ground level. A total of 920 piles will need to be concreted for the construction of bridge infrastructure facilities, 300 of which will be in the 2025 construction season. Each bank has its own concrete plants to meet the needs of the builders. Both plants are winterized, which allows for the production of high-quality mix even in the harsh climatic conditions of Yakutia.
The Chairman of the Government of Yakutia, Kirill Bychkov, spoke about the project's preconditions, the rationale for choosing the highway’s location, and the main technical parameters of the unique bridge. The height of the central pylon reaches 285 meters, which is comparable to the height of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The three-pylon cable-stayed structure was introduced due to the complex hydrological conditions of the Lena River, where active ice drift and flooding are observed annually. All bridge structures have been designed with this in mind, and certain construction technologies have been provided for, including the first-ever use of floating cofferdams in Russia.
The project is being implemented with federal co-financing and extra-budgetary investments. The grantor is the Government of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the investor, concessionaire and general contractor is VIS Group, the financial partner is Sber.