NIZHNIY PYANDZH BRIDGE

On June 20, 2005 at the groundbreaking ceremony US Ambassador in Tajikistan Richard Hoagland said “ The Nizhniy Pyandzh Bridge (NPB) will unlock the economic vitality of the two countries through expanded trade opportunities, advance Tajikistan and Afghanistan efforts to combat international terrorism, weapons, drug trafficking, and improve international cooperation in the region. The Tajikistan – Afghanistan Bridge will enhance economic and commercial opportunities for both sides of the river allowing goods and people to move across more easily.” The Ambassador also quoted from the letter of President Bush: “This Bridge is emblematic not only for the historical connections between these two countries, but also of the international cooperation possible today in the region”.

Sharing his upcoming plans, Tajikistan President Rahmonov said: “In the future we will lay electricity, gas, and water lines through this bridge. We also hope that next to this bridge will be built another bridge designed for the Dushanbe-Kurghonteppa-Kunduz railway”

The ceremony was devoted to the official start of construction. The bridge will become a major link between the capitals, Dushanbe and Kabul and be the 1st international highway route between the two countries since all existing bridges are akin to a footbridge with limited capacity.



In March 2005 the USACE awarded the Italian firm Rizzani de Eccher the contract for the construction of the Bridge. To fund the project, the US government provided $28mln. There are several other founders, including Norway with over $900,000 towards the construction, and the Government of Japan, providing funds to complete the highway, which will connect the bridge Northern approach road with town of Dusti to the North.

The bridge will connect Shir Khan, Afghanistan with Nizhniy Pyanzh, Tajikistan. It will be 672 m long and 11.6 m wide. The bridge is expected to transport more than 700 cars and 300 heavy trucks daily. On the Afghanistan side the bridge will connect to Afghanistan Ring Road which was built with International assistance, primarily via Asian Development Bank. The bridge is designed as a two lane steel girder bridge with 2 abutments and 11 concrete piers. Twelve bridge spans either 61 or 51 m long, will cross the river in the following pattern: (51+61+61+51)x3=672 m

Work started with erecting a temporary concrete batch plant, metal shop, storage facilities, field offices and living quarters. All are located in the same area inside the Tajik military border control zone. While the above mentioned offices are still under construction, the General Contractor rents office space from the Tajik Customs Unit, 1.5 km away from the job site. Rizzani and subcontractors are located in private houses in Dusti about 25 km north from the project site.

The next step already completed, was constructing a temporary haul road to provide an acceptable slope from the steep North (Tajik) side of the river downwards to water approach area. The road is used for transporting fill material to the river-bank interface to create first temporary isle at the location of the second river pier on the north side (pier 10).



Next, the contractor is will construct a “temporary bridge” which is not a bridge at all but a peninsula protruding into the river for 160 meters. This temporary bridge is going to serve as an approach road to the temporary isles which will be created at the location of future piers.

The temporary bridge is designed as a preassembled steel deck resting on steel piles driven into river bottom. Each of the 20 pieces of steel decking will be welded to the piles and bolted to each other to compose a level surface for heavy construction equipment including tractor-trailers, dump trucks, excavators, pile driving machine, concrete trucks and dozers.

The steel decks 8m long by 6m wide are being constructed on a level concrete stand on the high bank of the river and are delivered to the place of installation by haul trucks utilizing the haul road. Four 8m decks of 20 have already been constructed, delivered, and stored. The first deck has been installed on four steel piles. With prefabricated deck pieces it is very important to drive piles precisely in their defined positions, and this is a big challenge. A special “conductor” frame was designed to accomplish this task.

After the temporary bridge is complete, the contractor will start setting temporary isles and a causeway across the river. The causeway together with the temporary bridge, will form a river crossing for creating 9 temporary isles across the river. The purpose of setting the isles is to drill and pour shafts in the middle, which eventually become a permanent bridge foundation. Both the causeway and temporary bridge will be removed after completion of the permanent bridge.



Each pier will rest on 9 reinforced concrete shaft piles 1.5 m diameter, 20 m deep. Pile caps, 11 piers, and 2 abutments will bear the superstructure. Piers will be poured one by one starting from pier 11 on the Tajik side and moving south to the pier 1 on the Afghan side. At the same time, southern abutment 1 and northern abutment 2 will be constructed. Finally, 12 steel bridge spans will be installed on the piers. The top of the bridge and two approach slabs will then be poured with concrete.

The next phase of the project is the approach roads. On the Afghan side a 1.3 km road will connect the bridge with the Afghan Ring Road, a major arterial road linking almost all Afghanistan principal cities; it is the main road from Sherkhan to Kabul via Kunduz. On the Tajik side, a 1 km long road will connect the bridge with the village of Nizhniy Pyandzh, and with the 25 km long road to the town Dusti. This road is in a very bad condition and eventually will be reconstructed. This task will be completed by Japanese, who are negotiating conditions of the agreement with the Tajikistan Government.

The construction has just begun. The biggest challenge is scheduling, which should take in consideration seasonable fluctuations of river level and water rates which can change dramatically during the spring-summer flooding season.

We will continue to reflect on the process of the bridge building in following issues.