• Postwar years
• Construction work in the USSR
• Technological improvement aimed at increasing efficiency and quality of the construction work
• Introduction of flexible technology
• Construction activity in the North (1960-80s)
• BAR (Baikal-Amur Railroad)
• Designing objects of bridge building production basis (since 1950s)
• Tendency to use monolithic, and sectional - monolithic superstructures
• Roads in non-black soil area
• Rehabilitation of rail and motor bridges
• Innovative and inventive activities
• Computer platform
• Current activities

Our company was founded in the post-war period. On 26th August, 1945 the Central Design Engineering Bureau of the Ministry of Railroads was formed by a decree of the State Committee of Defence. Over time the name of the company changed several times, and since 1994  it has been called  “Institut Giprostroymost” JSC.

At various times it was headed by such prominent engineers as K.K.Yakobson, K.S.Silyn, D.P.Semin, M.S.Rudenko, N.D.Sentyurin, V.N.Kutsenko, M.A.Koshelev, A.O.Khomskiy, and others.

In the Soviet Union it was the only specialist organization engaged in working out a whole range of technological and engineering documentation for bridge construction all over the USSR.

Postwar years

In the post-war period the biggest bridges across the Dnieper and the Don were reconstructed on the basis of the designs drawn by the “Institute” (in the cities of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk, Kremenchug, Zaporozhiye, Rostov-on-Don and others).

Construction work in the USSR

Our Institute took part in the construction of a large number of major and out-of class bridges in different regions of Russia and erstwhile Soviet republics, across the rivers Dnieper, Volga, Kama, Oka, Ob, Irtysh, Amu Darya, Belaya, Daugava (in Riga), Yenisei, Amur, across the canyon of the Razdan river, the rivers Moskva, Kura (in Tbilisi), Neva (St. Petersburg), and many others. We also took part in the construction of viaducts, flyover crossings  and other structures in Tbilisi.

The Institute took part in the construction of bridges, viaducts, different man-made structures on the railway lines of Idjevan – Razdan, Yevlah – Belokany, Marabda – Ahalkalaki, and additional railroad tracks of Zestafani – Khashuri, Tbilisi –Gori.

The Institute has rendered technical assistance to different countries (Afghanistan, Syria, Angola, Vietnam, Laos, China, Indonesia, Yemen and others)   in the construction, examination, refurbishing and remodeling of bridges and viaducts as well as other hydrotechnical structures.

Technological improvement aimed at increasing efficiency and quality of the construction work

The Institute has always considered the following matters with special attention:

• construction of bearings foundations on concrete pipes of up to 3m in diameter by different types of vibratory pile drivers with the use of drilling, mucking and concrete-laying equipment; construction of foundations for bridge bearings on drilled piles of up to 3m in diameter with widening and complex arrangement of piles: boring and mucking, carcass installation, pouring concrete into boreholes;
• development of  different equipment: for drilling wells of different types; drilling equipment set; vibratory pile driver with controlled parameters, clamshells with capacity of up to1,5m3, diesel engine hammer with 7-ton striking part;
• construction of bearings void of grillage from drilled piles and casing, which makes it possible to abandon the construction of grillage  at the underwater part of the bearings;
• overhang erection of prefabricated  concrete box girder spans of up to 126m with technology tryout for the arrangement of adhesive erection joints; development and implementing electrified cranes (SPK-35; SPK-65; MA-65);
• erection of concrete spans by longitudinal launching with the use of frictionproof sliding mechanisms;
• development of the structure and construction method of cast-in-block slabby ribbed spans which was in fact pioneered by the Institute (the bridge across the Dnieper in Smolensk was the first one in a number of bridges, flyovers and viaducts built with this kind of blocks);
• overhang erection of lattice metal spans of railroad bridges with the types of cranes designed at the Institute;
• erection of steel spans of road bridges by longitudinal sliding with the use of launching noses and subdiagonals without installing temporary supports in the river bed;
• erection of concrete spans by afloat transportation of big blocks of up to 4000t with the use of barges and KS-63 pontoons.

Introduction of flexible technology

The Institute has taken an active part in working out flexible technology of bridge construction envisaging the use of uniform span structures made of modular prefabricated blocks (concrete box section blocks, slabby-ribbed  structures, metal blocks with steel orthotropic slabs), in the construction of supports void of grillage, model technical equipment and implements. For implementing flexible technology Mr.M.I.Rodov  was awarded the USSR State Prize.

Construction activity in the North (1960-80s)

Since the 1960-s the Institute has taken an active part in the engineering design of bridges in adverse climatic conditions of the Russian North, in the permafrost zones. Those are the bridges on railway lines Tumen – Surgut, Surgut – Nijnevartovsk, on the roads in the areas of the development of oil and gas deposits, across the Baikal-Amur and Amur- Yakutia Railroads, and in the Far East. The Institute was the first to design bridges with bearings void of grillage from metal tubes of big diameter (bridge over the Agan river on the road Agan-Pokachaevsk deposit). Later this kind of structures was widely used in the conditions of the North of West Siberia. More than 20 years of the bridges operation have proved their high reliability and safety as well as high performance. The Institute has been working at the realization of the program of the Ministry for Traffic Facilities Construction on providing scientific and technical support in design engineering and construction of bridges in the area of permanently frozen soil.

Baikal-Amur Railroad

The Institute took an active part in designing construction projects of the Baikal-Amur Railroad (BAR), it designed the production basis of bridge construction subdivisions, practically all projects of organization of construction and work production plans for large and medium-size bridges of the BAR (more than 700). To construct bridges on the Baikal-Amur Railroad in the complicated hydro- and geological conditions of permafrost, low temperatures, hard ice conditions some new rapid industrial methods of construction were worked out and introduced,  concrete blocks for coating of bearings of big railroad bridges instead of granite setting, new engineering designs of spans, construction of bearings foundations on concrete envelope of big diameter, bored into permanently frozen and hard rocky ground with the use of reaction turbines etc were also worked out and implemented.

Designing objects of bridge building production basis (since 1950s)

Since the 1950s the Institute has given much concern to designing, rehabilitation and technological reequipment of plants producing concrete bridge structures, bases for different bridge constructing crews, as well as plants producing bridge construction equipment in different cities.

Tendency to use monolithic and sectional-monolithic superstructures

The Institute strongly supports the tendency to use monolithic and sectional-monolithic superstructures. On instructions of the Russian Federal Road Service and in cooperation with Soyuzdorproekt it has worked out the documentation for the construction of viaducts with monolithic superstructures on the Moscow ring road and the 3d Moscow hoist ring as well as for sectional-monolithic superstructures of enhanced reliability (with a monolithic bridge floor slab).

Roads in non-black soil area

The Institute designed standardized composite spans for the motor roads of the non-black soil area, took an active part in the design of the supports on pile footing with the use of concrete sheathing and bored piles.

Rehabilitation of rail and motor bridges

A deep knowledge of the production technology enables specialist engineers to work out complex documentation for rehabilitation projects coupled with construction and technological decisions, which is especially important in the conditions of modern cities with their traffic congestion and underground space overloaded with supply pipelines and utility lines. The Institute is experienced in rehabilitation of rail, motor bridges and viaducts. The Institute has worked out or taken part in working out documentation and carrying out inspection and rehabilitation of more than 80 bridges, viaducts and other man-made structures. The most important of them are:

• rehabilitation of the rail bridge across the Amur at Khabarovsk;
• rehabilitation of bridges and viaducts on the Moscow Ring Road;
• general overhaul of Molitovsky and Kanavinsky bridges across the Oka in Nijny Novgorod;
• rehabilitation of the bridge crossing across the Klyazma on the 343 km of the Moscow-N.Novgorod motor road;
• 1st and 2nd stages of the viaduct rehabilitation at the crossover of the Moscow railway line and Varshavskoe highway;
• rehabilitation of Tchernavsky bridge across the Voronej water reservoir (2nd stage);
• rehabilitation of the bridge across the Volkhov on the Moscow - St.Petersburg motor highway;
• reconstruction of Leningradsky Avenue from Begovaya Str to “Sokol” metro station in Moscow;
• rehabilitation of Moscow-N.Novgorod railway section in the framework of the “Arrangement of high speed passenger traffic between Moscow and Nijniy Novgorod” project. Bridge across the Nerl;
• rehabilitation of a bridge across the Yauza in Moscow (between commuter and freight railway lines);
• heavy repair of Maly Ustinsky bridge in Moscow.

Innovative and inventive activities

Our specialists hold more than 300 certificates for inventions and about 1200 for innovations, most of which have been implemented in practical work.

Computer platform

The data-processing system is being constantly upgraded which enables the specialist engineers to do their work within a short period of time and provide high quality. The advanced software, some of which has been developed at the Institute enables the specialist engineers to accomplish tasks of any complexity.

Current activities

In the past decade the Institute has acquired some new qualities in new economic conditions. Transition to the market economic relations has led to quite a different approach to arranging design work. Setting up departments for motor road design, for the development of special sections,  and transition to complex design of construction projects has enabled the Institute to take a more active part in contests and tenders and get more contracts as a major designer.  The Institute has always adhered to the principles of high performance standards of projects, high quality of works and optimal timescale to  perform a contract.

The Institute is the major designing company to construct such important construction projects as:

• bridge across the Volga on the bypass of Yaroslavl;
• railway bridge across the Amur on a Russia-China border section at a locality  in the Jewish Autonomous Region (Russia);
• railway bridge crossing across the Volga on the Privoljskaya railroad;
• rehabilitation of the bridge across the Don and erection of a new bridge on the Privoljskaya railroad.

The Institute is engaged in designing different significant man-made structures and working out specialist design sections as a leading company, among them:

• development of the technological part and the design of structures of complex auxiliary facilities for the 2nd and 3d stages of rehabilitation of the combined bridge across the Amur at Khabarovsk;
• design of more than 100 railroad bridges with the total length of 11.5 km (37 large and 68 medium-size bridges) with specific steel spans along the 400-km Krasnoyarsk railroad;
• construction of motor road approach to the bridge across the Oka in Nijniy Novgorod;
• bridge crossing across the Sura in Penza;
• design of a unique bridge crossing to  Russkiy island across the Eastern Bosporos (Vladivostok in the Russian Far East). The Institute  is working out designs of the main structures of the approach flyovers, construction technology of the pylons of more than 300m tall, and cable stayed part of the bridge with the main span of the record length of 1140m;
• construction of Kirovsky cable stayed bridge across the Samara;
• design of the viaduct as part of the St. Petersburg Ring Road as well as the technological part of the construction of the cable stayed bridge across the Neva;
• construction of the viaduct and reconstruction of Ivan Popov Str. in the city of Kirov;
• emergency repairs and restoration of Kanavinsky bridge across the Oka in Nijny Novgorod;       
• rehabilitation of Maly Ustinsky bridge in Moscow across the Yauza;
• the Institute is taking an active part  in designing different structures for the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, among them the development of project and working documentation including 12 projects and 58 structures, most important of them are 3 railway bridges and 8 motor bridges (including a cable stayed one) on the Adler-“Alpica Service mountain resort” combined road (motor and railway).   Here 399 single steel spans of 12 types with the total weight of 72,000t are being built according to our designs, which accounts for 66% of the total work on the bridges built along the Baikal-Amur Railroad.                 

The total number of the Institute’s personnel has grown up to almost 400 people (with 346 staff members in the Moscow department). The range of issues dealt with by the Institute has expanded significantly. They include:

• designing motorroads;
• working out architectural concepts;
• engineering survey;
• preparing special parts of designs;
• carrying out feasibility studies;
• rearrangement of utility lines;
• carrying out technical supervision;
• hydrology survey.

In the past few years some new departments and divisions have been set up, among them a new department for technical adjustment and projects development in the Nijniy Novgorod region, the department of engineering hydrology, a division  designing structures for the 2014 Olympic games in Sochi, a division for technical endorsement and design development for the Primorye Territory.

Annual magazine “Giprostroymost Institute” was launched in 2007, and it helps to exchange information and experience in design engineering among the institute staff as well as among our colleagues – designers and bridge builders.

Today “Institut Giprostroymost” JSC is recognized by the professional community as one of the leading Russian companies engaged in the design of bridges and other traffic facilities.

The Institute has affiliates in St.Petersburg and Novosibirsk. It is a member of International and Russian associations of bridge constructors.