Over the three summer months of 2019, 2.25 million cars passed the bridge across the Kerch Strait, which is 8.5% more than the same period last year (2.074 million cars). Such data were reported in the information center "Crimean bridge". It is noted that a gradual increase in traffic is associated with an increase in freight and passenger traffic - almost 200 thousand trucks and 25 thousand regular and tourist buses drove over the bridge this summer alone.

Since the opening of the road part of the bridge in mid-May 2018, about 7 million cars have passed through it. This is more than the Kerch ferry transported since 2015 (5.1 million vehicles).

The results of the Crimean bridge in the summer were summed up at a meeting in Moscow of the builders of the transport passage with the head of the Federal Agency for Tourism Zarina Doguzova. According to the head of the department, the bridge across the Kerch Strait has become a driver of tourism development on the peninsula.

“First of all, it is car and mototourism. 60% of vacationers from the beginning of the year came to the peninsula in their own transport to travel to picturesque places. There is growing interest in holidays in the Crimea in the offseason. With the bridge, it became possible to plan a trip in the fall or winter, regardless of storms in the Kerch Strait, ”Doguzova said.

The head of the Federal Tourism Agency added that the Crimean bridge itself has become a "tourist magnet" of the region, as many motorists plan their journey so as to pass through the transport passage and enjoy the views from it.

In turn, the head of the PKU Uprdor “Taman” Kairat Tursunbekov said that in the summer of 2019, the peak of the seasonal flow occurred on August 12 - that day, almost 36 thousand cars drove over the bridge in 24 hours.

“In the conditions of dense round-the-clock auto traffic, all the supporting structures worked out as usual. The bridge is ready for even greater loads. Its promising estimated throughput is 40 thousand cars per day, ”Tursunbekov added.

In the information center "Crimean bridge" reported that they are going to the peninsula to rest from different cities of Russia. These are mainly tourists from Moscow, St. Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Voronezh, Samara and Kaluga. Apart from this list are residents of the neighboring Krasnodar Territory, many of whom come to Crimea just for the weekend.

“High-quality and safe road”

Vice President of the Russian Federation of Car Owners Dmitry Klevtsov told RT that he and the Inspectorate visited the Crimean Bridge in 2018 and in 2019. According to him, many motorists prefer to visit Crimea by car, because the transport crossing is built very high quality.

“The roads are amazing“ Avtodor ”built, the highest level. On the mainland, such expensive ones are only paid, but here it is free: lighting, traffic management, road marking, flows are separated by a barrier. A very good, high-quality, safe road, ”said Klevtsov.

Over a hundred specialists are responsible for servicing the four-lane road. In addition, sensors and instruments placed on the bridge structures allow technical supervision of the condition of the supports and spans.

  • Holidaymakers on the beach in Yalta
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  • © Konstantin Mikhalchevsky

Last week, the chairman of the committee on the sanatorium complex and tourism of the State Council of Crimea Alexei Chernyak said that after the opening of the bridge across the Kerch Strait, the flow of tourists to the peninsula began to grow sharply. According to him, the tourist flow in the Crimea on average increases by 10-15% compared with the record year 2018.

“We plan 7 million vacationers per year,” declare Chernyak.

"Breathtaking"

In turn, Crimean politicians note that motorists are attracted not only by the quality of the road surface, but also by the beauty of the bridge, the ability to observe unique landscapes throughout the entire 19 kilometers of the structure.

“Both locals and visitors are often sent to the bridge for the very fact of a trip to this grandiose building,” Ruslan Balbek, State Duma deputy from Kazakhstan, told RT.

According to him, every month there are more and more people who want to ride on the Crimean bridge: “Special sensations among motorists arise when driving under arches, when in some way they even take our breath away from the opening picture.”

The parliamentarian noted that it’s interesting to travel on the peninsula with your own transport, where lovers of Crimean serpentines and mountain roads go. Beautiful views also open when traveling along the Tavrida highway: mountains, valleys, steppes, Scythian mounds, Balbek added.

Logistics and tourism

The deputy of the Crimean State Council Vladislav Ganzhara in an interview with RT noted that the opening of the Crimean bridge also had a significant impact on the pace of development of the peninsula and simplified access to the region for vacationers.

“People who, due to certain circumstances, could not come to Crimea over the past years, today freely travel by personal transport. Therefore, caravanning has already influenced not only logistics, but also the development of certain areas of the Crimea, which are associated with caravanning, camping, ”said Ganzhara.

They are held on the peninsula and various events. In particular, in August 2019, an international bike show was organized on the Gasfort Mountain near Sevastopol, organized by the Night Wolves biker club, which was visited by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in the Shadow of Babylon organized by the Night Wolves motorcycle club in Sevastopol driving a Ural motorcycle with a sidecar
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  • © Alexey Druzhinin

According to Ganzhara, with the opening of the railway part of the bridge, an even greater increase in tourist flow is expected. However, trains will not only become another way to get to the resorts, but also simplify the life of the inhabitants of the peninsula.

“For several years, Crimea was an island that was cut off from Ukraine by the blockades that this state introduced against us. We understood that auto and direct railway communication is absolutely necessary, therefore the Crimeans really looked forward to the opening of the first part of the Crimean bridge, now they are really looking forward to the opening of the railway crossing through the Kerch Strait, ”said the parliamentarian.

According to Leonid Ryzhenkin, deputy general director of Stroygazmontazh for infrastructure projects, the construction of the railway part of the bridge is being carried out in accordance with the schedule. Now the device of the upper structure of the track is being carried out, its ballasting with crushed stone, straightening and straightening. In addition, inside the main track, the so-called counter rails are used, which are used to protect against the possible descent of cars, lighting racks and noise screens are installed.

“The first trains will go over the bridge, as planned, at the end of the year,” Ryzhenkin said.

Earlier it was reported that the traffic on the railway part of the Crimean bridge will tentatively open on December 9-10.