Sakhalin tunnel or bridge: when will they build a "road of life" for the island

An underground tunnel or bridge that would provide stable transport links between the island and the mainland is a long-standing dream of everyone who lives and works on Sakhalin. Indeed, today the only way to get to the mainland is to use a sea ferry or air transport. Not only is it inconvenient and expensive, it is also very dependent on weather conditions. Stormy weather, which is often observed on the island, can completely isolate Sakhalin and its half-million population from the rest of the world for several days, and this problem must be somehow solved.

Sakhalin Island is the largest island of all that are part of the Russian Federation, and has an area of ​​76,600 square meters. km The island is separated from the mainland by the Tatar Strait, and in its narrowest part (in the Nevelsky Strait), the distance between Sakhalin and the mainland Khabarovsk Territory is only 7.3 kilometers.

As of 2017, the island's population was 487,344 people, although as far back as 2002, 527,268 people lived on the island. The population of the island is steadily decreasing, which is due to a number of problems, including the undeveloped infrastructure and transport isolation of the island.

Today, you can get to the island only by water or by air. Between the village of Vanino (Khabarovsk Territory) and the Sakhalin city of Kholmsk there is a year-round sea railway passenger-and-freight ferry. This sea route through the Tatar Strait with a length of 260 kilometers has been operating since 1973 and specially designed for it were off-road vessels of the Sakhalin series. In stormy weather, the ferry does not function.

But the Vanino-Kholmsk crossing was built in exchange for another project that was never implemented - the Sakhalin Tunnel. The idea of ​​building a tunnel first appeared at the end of the XIX century, then it was remembered in the 20s and 30s of the XX century, but the project was postponed due to lack of material resources. The construction of the Sakhalin tunnel began only in 1950 and lasted until 1953. The grandiose construction, in which more than 25,000 people took part, was located in the area of ​​the Nevelsky Strait. After completion, the railway tunnel was to connect Cape Lazarev and Cape Pogibi. But after the death of Stalin in March 1953, work on the construction of the Sakhalin tunnel, as well as several other large-scale infrastructure projects in the USSR, were stopped. For managers and most construction workers this was a complete surprise.

What did you manage to do during these three years? On the territory of the Khabarovsk Territory, 120 kilometers of railways were built, which led to the future tunnel, and a shaft of 1.6 kilometers was dug through. An artificial island was dumped from the mainland. In Sakhalin, the results are not so impressive. Initially, the conditions for construction here were more complex. Excavation work was carried out, deforestation at the site of the future railway and a dirt road was built.

Nowadays, when neither air communication nor the sea crossing Vanino-Kholmsk is able to meet the needs of the island in freight and passenger transportation, they again remembered the construction of the Sakhalin tunnel. Dust was shaken off a century-old project and they began to consider possible options for its implementation, which have been actively discussed in recent decades. Initially, there were 3 possible options: a tunnel under the Nevel Strait 12.4 kilometers long, a 6.6 kilometer long bridge and even a bulk dam that was supposed to block the Tatar Strait. At the moment, there are two options left - a bridge and a tunnel, for which engineering surveys and a feasibility study are being carried out. As a result of many years of discussions, it was decided to dwell on the option providing for the construction of the bridge, which has the lowest cost, but at the same time a number of experts believe that this is not the final version and no one refused the tunnel.

Watch the video: Kerch Bridge Gets Upgrade! New Underground Tunnel Will Allow For Rail Transit Across Strait! (April 2024).