Kerch railway bridge

Kerch railway bridge Керченский железнодорожный мост
Coordinates	45°19′42″N 36°38′15″E / 45.32844°N 36.6375°E / 45.32844; 36.6375
Carried	Sennaya – Fontalovskaya – Chushka Spit – Kerch railway line
Crossed	Kerch Strait
Locale	Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Official name	Kerch railway bridge
Other name(s)	Kerch Bridge
Owner	Soviet government
Characteristics
Design	Truss swing bridge
Total length	4.5 km (2.8 mi)
Longest span	55 m (180.45 ft)
History
Constructed by	People's Commissariat of Railways of the Soviet Union
Construction start	1944
Opened	November 3, 1944 (1944-11-03)
Collapsed	February 1945 (1945-02)
Replaced by	Kerch Strait ferry line (1954–2020) Crimean Bridge (since 2019/20)[a]
Location

The Kerch railway bridge (Russian: Керченский железнодорожный мост), also called the Kerch Bridge (Russian: Керченский мост),^[1] was a short-lived Soviet Russian railway bridge across the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov. Constructed in 1944–1945 and demolished later in 1945, it connected Chushka Spit of the Krasnodar Krai with the Kerch Peninsula of the Crimean ASSR. With a length of 4.5 km (2.8 mi),^[2] it was the longest bridge in the Soviet Union.^[3]

Construction began in spring 1944 shortly after the liberation of Crimea by the Red Army. Materials left from an unbuilt bridge of the occupying German forces were used by the Soviets in the construction of their bridge,^[2] Although it was opened for transport in autumn that year, construction was still incomplete, and December 1944 storms halted construction. By that time only part of the protective starkwaters were completed, and in February 1945 ice severely damaged the bridge, destroying the bridge pillars. Repair proposals were rejected and remnants of the bridge were disassembled afterwards.

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