Roksky tunnel - the road through the Main Caucasian Range

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Roksky tunnel is a road construction that connects South and North Ossetia. It is located on a section of the Transcaucasian Highway, which runs under Mount Sokhs. Its length exceeds three and a half kilometers. The northern gate of the passage is located at an altitude of 2,040 meters above sea level, the mark of the southern one has crossed the line of 2,110 m.

The construction of the passage began in the thirties of the XX century. It was marked by a loud explosion, which was made a few kilometers from the settlement of Upper Ruk. The main goal pursued by the creators of the Roki Tunnel project was to unload the railway lines going in the direction of the Caspian and Black Seas.

At the moment, the facility serves the highway leading from Russia to the cities of South Ossetia. Ten years ago, it provided the shortest road route to the border areas of Iran and Turkey.

Historical background

After a long period of inactivity, which amounted to almost forty years, it was decided to continue building the Roki tunnel. N. Nagaevsky acted as the developer of the master plan. He used the drawings of Ruten Glagolev. This fact was detailedreviewed in the periodical "Planned economy", published in circulation in 1976.

The total cost of the planned work amounted to almost 100 million rubles. It should be borne in mind that the original path has been significantly shortened. According to R. Glagolev, the Roki tunnel should have originated at a place called Ruk. The main difference of this area is the minimal threat of avalanches. However, the savings were so obvious that his recommendations were ignored.

Organizational moments

In the future, the technical condition of the passage required global modernization. This was also facilitated by insufficiently thorough research. Employees of the Leningrad and Caucasian branches of Giprotrans complained about the complexity of the relief characteristics of the region. The road through the Roki tunnel ran at great depth, which also prevented the large-scale research work of engineers.

To eliminate the risk of collapse of the main corridor, the workers built an auxiliary one. It was used only for reconnaissance purposes, and later became a component of the building's ventilation system. The main rock in which the adit was laid was rocky soil.

Geological work

The tunnel pierced the main Caucasian ridge from two sides at once. Explosive activity was carried out at the southern and northern portals. For these purposes, the new Austrian method was used. The latest and most productive equipment was used at that time. Construction was carried outalmost around the clock.

Export of mining was carried out on Soviet-made trucks. Frost-resistant concrete M 300 was chosen for finishing. In one calendar month, sinkers mastered up to 45 meters of soil.

Modernization

Reconstruction of the tunnel began seven years ago. In 2010, its first stage started, during which the technical adit was updated. The old covering of the corridors was completely removed and replaced, modern communication lines were installed.

To overcome 600 meters of production, it took exactly thirty days of continuous work of two teams at once. In 2012, all planned activities were completed, and road traffic was temporarily opened under the Roki Pass, but only in test mode.

The next step was to change the waterproofing layer, expand the cross section of the passage and finish the interior of the structure. On November 5, 2014, the official opening of the passage under Mount Sokhs took place.