Doomed bridge

Road network renovation in Kaliningrad: pointless and merciless. There was a historical bridge, built by Nazis before or during the war. They have probably experimented with different shapes and approaches in bridge construction, or maybe they have trained their experts for explosives there. No one knows.

The bridge was initially marked for demolition due to road extension. The local authorities initially saw no value in it, as it hasn't looked like much from the top. However, it was thrown over a small ravine, and just underneath there were quite interesting arches and supports. The government later realised it was making a mistake assigning the bridge for destruction, they should have included it into the project instead of tearing down, and later used it as a point of tourist attraction. But it was too late, the contract for construction was finalized and the money were transferred, the works were about to begin.

Today there a boring road embankment goes where the bridge once stood, and a standard industrial corrugated tube laid across to let the water flow through. The metal section was salvaged though, and is now exposed in a local museum. The concrete debris of the main part are buried under the newly-constructed road. The activists could also capture the point cloud of the bridge using a Lidar just before the destruction, so perhaps one day we will see a replica with the original metal span attached.

Learned this time

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