Kyiv Tests Renovated Shuliavskyi Bridge as Klitschko Stands Underneath

The overpass is being prepared for opening.

Kyiv tested the spans of the renovated Shuliavskyi overpass.

Officials in the Kyiv City Council press service announced this on Friday, 27 December.

To verify the structure's compliance with standards and norms, it was loaded in two stages: a dynamic load and a static load.

Among other things, eight MAZ trucks loaded with ballast drove onto the bridge and simultaneously crossed it at different speeds, while special equipment collected data on the structure's condition. The weight of each truck reaches 30 tonnes. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko stood under the bridge with construction workers during the tests.

Experts must now compare the bridge's required characteristics with the indicators recorded by the equipment. If they comply, traffic on the bridge can be opened. Klitschko expressed hope that this would happen in the coming days.

In summer 2015, the Shuliavskyi overpass was declared dilapidated and in need of urgent repair, and on 27 February 2017, the pedestrian section of the bridge partially collapsed. In April 2019, the overpass structures were dismantled. Completion of construction of the new overpass is planned for the end of 2019.

Earlier the High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine ordered the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to open criminal proceedings against Kyiv City Mayor Vitali Klitschko. Deputies of the Kyiv City Council filed the lawsuit, believing the mayor may have abused his power and inflated the prices of work during the reconstruction of the Shuliavskyi overpass. North Ukrainian Construction Alliance LLC was assigned the construction work allegedly as a result of a fictitious tender. In early November, it became known that NABU opened a case.