Describe the Golden Gate Bridge using the following information

Location: San-Francisco, California, the USA; Completion Date: 1937;

Length: more than a mile long; Purpose: motorway; Materials: steel, concrete;

Setting: over Golden Gate Straight connecting San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean; Oceanic Conditions: rapidly running tides, frequent storms and fogs;

Engineer(s): Joseph Strauss, Consulting Architect: Irving Morrow

Consult this list of bridge terminology while doing the exercises.

1. Backstay, stay cable	a) ванта
2. Bridge structure without thrust	b) безраспорный мост
3. Curved cable	c) криволинейный кабель
4. Deflection	d) прогиб, провисание
4. Distortion of the deck	e) деформация мостового полотна
5. Failure	F) потеря устойчивости
6. Hollow shaft	g) полый ствол
7. Overhead cable	h) подвесной кабель
8. Performance in service	g) эксплуатационная характеристика
9. Rated resistance	h) номинальное сопротивление
10. Slackening in cable	i) ослабление натяжения кабеля
11. X-bracing	j) крестообразный раскос

Unit 11

NOVOSIBIRSK’S BRIDGES

You should have pictures of Novosibirsk's bridges. Look at them while reading the text. Having read the text, supplement the information with details you may notice in the pictures.

Novosibirsk is the third largest city in Russia. Its development in the 21st century is supported by its ideal geographical location, at the crossing of basic transportation routes – railways, airlines, waterways and motorways. It was founded as an important transport centre for both the internal and external transportation of goods from Siberia, the Far East, the Kuzbass region, the Altai Region, Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, China, Japan and the World. The role of the railway network is of paramount importance for it gave rise to the business activities of these regions. The Trans-Siberian Railway is the longest in Russia, stretching from Moscow 9,198 km east to Vladivostok. It has and had great importance in the economic and military history of our country, and carries 9.5 million tons of cargo each year crossing many unique bridges.

At the end of the 19^th century, the builders of the Trans-Siberian Railway had to bridge the mighty rivers of Siberia. In 1893, the surveying party headed up by N. Garin-Michailovsky chose the most suitable place for crossing the Ob River.

Professor N. Belelyubsky designed the huge railway bridge, which was completed in 1897 (fig. 11.1). During the years of construction, a settlement sprang up there, and the largest city in Siberia developed where there was only the village of Krivoshchekovo, on the left bank.

The design represented a multi-span superstructure with a cantilever-beam metal truss. The suspended span was 87 m long and rested on the cantilevers of the adjacent trusses. The main advantage of a cantilever-beam truss is that each pier has one carriage. It reduces pier proportions at the bridge front (fig. 11.2a). The headroom provided 118 m of navigable waterway (fig. 11.2a). The carrying capacity of the bridge elements and the state of the riveted joints could not resist modern live loads. The carriage deterioration after 90 years of continuous operation called for reconstruction, which began in 1981. The starlings were encased in concrete, and new metal trusses were put on the encasement. The old spans were redesigned and turned into welded trusses with a triangular truss of standard construction. In that way, Belelyubsky’s piers entered their next cycle of service life (fig. 11.2a).

The next railway bridge over the Ob River was constructed in 1935. It has a metal riveted truss with a top flange of polygonal shape (fig. 11.2b). The bridge was constructed within a short period due to the enthusiasm of young people. That is why it is called the Komsomolsky Bridge.

Insecurity in transport communication held back the growth of the economy in the rapidly developing city. Until 1956 the communication links between the right and left riverbanks of Novosibirsk were facilitated by the floating bridge in summer and the ice passage in winter. Further industrial growth was encouraged due to Oktyabrsky Bridge, which solved the traffic problem. The first city bridge in Novosibirsk is one of the finest bridgeworks in our country (fig. 11.2c). The combined structure including a mighty metal girder and a flexible 126 m arch span complements the magnificent city view, and the spandrel arch looks especially attractive. The bridge deck is made of reinforced concrete slabs allowing the asphalt to be applied much easier. The piers resisting the thrust from the arches might look rather ponderous but due to the nice granite encasement, they decorate the bridge.

Novosibirsk is a rapidly developing city because it is situated at the most important overland transport cross routes. The Main Federal Motorway carries heavy traffic through our city that causes great inconvenience in the streets. The problem of traffic congestion, noise and air pollution made the authorities build a bypass road for freight transportation, at the northern border of the city. Again, the Ob River became a natural obstacle to the new road, and a reinforced concrete bridge had to be built. It was opened to traffic on October 22^nd in 2008. The Prime Minister of The Russian Federation visited that major event. Senior government and RZD COMPANY officials, as well as the Transport Minister, other high-ranking persons, and the General Manager of the West-Siberian Railway Branch accompanied Mr. Putin. Having examined the new bridge, they arrived at Siberian State University of Railway Engineering and discussed the plans for future transport development. The Prime Minister signed a document called The Strategy of Transport Development up to 2030, which provides many solutions for solving our transport problems.

Exercises:

What bridge across the Ob River do you prefer and why? Express your opinion using the following word combinations:

Transport connection, Multi-span Superstructure, Heavy traffic, Traffic jams, Traffic accident, Municipal Transportation, and Individual transport

Answer the following questions:

1. What bridgework laid the foundation for the city of Novosibirsk?

2. Who designed the first bridge crossing over the Ob River?

3. What role do the bridges over the Ob River play in the development of the city’s economy?

4. When was the last bridge crossing in Novosibirsk constructed?

5. What are the plans of the Novosibirsk municipal administration and transport authority in terms of developing transport links over the Ob River?