HIGHWAY AND TUNNEL CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS IN THE USSR (KUYBYSHEV-MUKHANOVO HIGHWAY, NOVYY AFON, TUNNEL, VELIKIYE LUKE-RIGO HIGHWAY, KHIMKI-SPAS HIGHWAY)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80T00246A053800260001-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 20, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: May 3, 1960
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.Q. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
COUNTRY USSR
SUBJECT Highway and Tunnel Construction
PKojectg in the US,3R
REPORT
DATE DISTR. 3 ' lG y / '/ O
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES 50X1-HUM
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
our reports described below, concerning highway and tunnel construction
projects in the USS
This report deals mainly with the four-kilometer-long stretch of ?
_
g road betanj_&- /
Mukhanovo and the Kinel River (which was to have been completed by 1957). an
Construction of the Ku b shev-Mukhanovo Highway (attachment 1)
or
p e ri ge during the winter months. Information on the work
f
-- ---- -?- ?+- i..r\.,.i u LLlOI.UDDC.7 i eeiuilcal aetialls suc f
as materials going into the foundation of the highway and methods of driving'/ J
+'k b d
the files f
orce employed on the project, their salaries, and machinery used is a
y n e
to the tunnel tracks. the new line would be used. for communica50X1 -HUM
tions with the coastal cities and that the old line would be discarded.
Details are given concerning construction of a railroad tunnel in Novyy Afon,
which would not r-un as near the coast as the old-line and would shorten the
route to Tbilisi. A 1/100 scale sketch of the tunnel is included in the
report. As of July 191+9, the line was not yet in. use since a ravine on the
Tbilisi side had yet to be filled in and the old line had not et been 11 k d
Railroad Tunnel in Novyy Afon (attachment 2)
y crac s in the.,roadbed on many stretches between Nasva and
Krasnogorodskoye. 'Mention is made of the construction personnel employed on
project and their salaries.C-O-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
YA,
Information is included on traffic, bridges and terrain encountered on the 250
kilometer stretch of road which had been completed on this third-category,
two-lane highway as of October 1956 and which had reached Krasnogorodskoye.
Al.sD included are particulars on team construction work to repair damage caused
b holes and k
The Velikiye Luki-Riga Highway Construction Project (attachment 3)
0
ote: Washington distribution indicated by "X"; Field distribution by ".#".)
4 FORMATION REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
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Construction of the Khimki-Spas Highway (attachment 4)
A physical description of this third-category, eight-kilometer stretch of road,
its terrain and traffic, is given. Information is offered on the continuous
construction method used, the construction crew, monthly salaries,and
construction equipment.
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11U vac11LU L11, 1
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
18, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 791, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
N_T_TA T.
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACID
USSR (Kuybyshev Oblast)
Construction of the Kuybyshev-
Mukhanovo Highway
REPORT
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES RD
SOURCE EVALUATIONS ARE DEFINITIVE. APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
STATE ARMY NAVY I I AIR I FBI
I IAEC
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CONSTRUCTION OF THE KUYBYSHEV-MUKHANOVO HIGHWAY
1. Construction work on the 120-kilometer-long highway between
Kuybyshev and Mukhanovo (N 53-22, E 51-21), officially known
as the Kuybyshev-Mukhanovo highway, was begun in June 195+;
this project was included in the 1951-1956 Plan but was about
three months behind schedule and probably would be finished
in 1957. It was a two-way highway, was classified as a
second category road, and had no numerical designation. It
was 11 meters wide and consisted of a single seven-meter-
wide lane with two-meter-wide shoulders on either side. The
highway crossed the Kinel River about four kilometers from 50X1-HUM
the river as far as Kuybyshev.
the four-kilometer-long stretch anovo ana
the Kinel River, and the information set forth below deals
mainly with the construction of this section of the road and
the bridge over the Kinel River.
2. Since there were no quarries or sand pits near the highway,
round stones were obtained from the Kinel River and sand,
clay, and mixed gravel obtained from the nearest available
point and shipped by rail from Kuybyshev; the pipes and struc-
tural framework for the bridge also came from Kuybyshev. The
foundation was composed of round stone, gravel, clay and sand;
the roadbed was formed of two 3.5-centimeter-thick layers
composed of 75 percent gravel, bitumen and powdered limestone,
in order to prevent softening of the asphalt in hot weather.
The highway had no tunnels. The maximum grade on the finished
stretch was five percent, the minimum radius for curves was
250 meters, and banking on curves was normally about seven
percent. The construction crew worked in groups: one group
installed the water conduits; another prepared the ballast-bed;
the third laid the foundation; the fourth surfaced the road
with asphalt, and the fifth put up traffic signals and repaired
defects in the roadbed. The crew was required to complete two
hundred meters of highway each day.
3. The bridge built over the Kinel River was 108 meters long, nine
meters wide, and 13 meters above the surface of the water. The
piles, which formed the foundation for the concrete piers
supporting the metal structure, were driven during the winter
months when the river was frozen over. Twenty-eight piles,
made of metal pipe 30 centimeters in diameter and filled with
concrete, were used for each pier (number of piers not speci-
fied); they were inserted through holes cut through 1.1-meter-
thick ice and driven into place by pile drivers; three pile
drivers were used; they were mounted on timbers with steel
cross sections on wheels so that the machines could be moved
over the ice. The piers were set into concrete during the
summer: during the concreting process, two concentric circles
of tongue and groove stakes with clay between them were used
to keep the water away from the pier. It was planned to make
the roadbed for the bridge of prefabricated reinforced concrete
slabs but, as of September 1955, work on the roadbed had not
yet begun
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4.
the bridge and highway could not withstand
a vehicle heavier than 15 tons.
5. The number of men employed on this project wash
adequate. The construction crew numbered 100; most
of the men had been discharged from the army with the stipula-
tion that they work on this highway construction project for a
period of time equal to the remainder of their military service;
the personnel belonged to the MVD. The 50X1 -HUM
construction crew included two engineers, five technicians,
eight carpenters, nine pile driver operators, seven concrete
workers, five men assigned to assemble the metal structure,
some 20 truck drivers and their helpers, besides the operators
of the bulldozers, graders, scrapers and road rollers, and
other laborers. The machinery consisted of three bulldozers;
two scrapers; three graders; two ten-metric-ton and two five-
metric-ton road rollers; one asphalt spreader; approximately
30 dump trucks of two and a half, three and a half, and five-
ton capacity; two .75, one .25 and one .5 cubic meter excava-
tors; three Diesel-driven pile drivers; autogenous and electric
welding equipment, and other auxiliary apparatus.
6. The z6onthl 7 salaries were as follows:
chief engineer - 3,000 rubles, plus bonuses for fulfilling
the plan
engineer - 1,500 rubles, plus bonuses for fulfilling
the plan
technicians - 1,088 rubles, plus bonuses for fulfilling
the plan
truck drivers - 1,700 rubles (for a 12-hour day)
bulldozer, grader and scraper operators - 1,200 rubles
carpenters and employees assigned to assemble metal structures
- 800 rubles
laborers - 600 rubles
auxiliary personnel (checking trucks, etc.) - 450 rubles
Due to the fact that the construction site was far from Moscow,
the Ministry of the Petroleum Industry augmented the above wam!es
by a sum equal to 20 percent of the salaries listed abov150X1-HUM
wised by the Chief of Construction Directorate No. 3;
The Kuybyshev-Mukhanovo Highway construction project was super-
He had the rank of polkovnik in the MVD aru'
50X1 HUM
military man.
wore a khaki-colored uniform with gold shoulder boards, two
large five-pointed stars, and a blue cap with red trimming. He
was listed on the office payroll as a construction engineer and,
received additional pay because he was a 50X1-HUM
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C-0-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I- -,
COUNTRY: USSR (Abkhazskaya ASSR) REPORT
SUBJECT: Railroad Tunnel in Novyy Afon DATE 0
1. The city of Novyy Afon, which was newly built, was located in the Abkhazskaya
ASSR, about 40 kilometers northwest of Sukhumi (N 43-00, E 41-02) and about
30 kilometers from Gludailta (N 43..06- y, 4 0 - ' 1 8 ) , or
medium-tonnam shi
There were no industrial plants in the city.
2. In January 1949, a railroad tunnel was under
construction. The tracks would not run near the coast as the old line and
thus shortened the route to Tbilisi. The tunnel measured about six kilometers
long by 12 meters wide by about seven meters high. The semi-circular roof
was made of reinforced concrete faced (sic) with iron plate about four
centimeters thick, fastened in place with thick bolts about four centimeters
in diameter, that projected about three centimeters from the plate. The
tunnel walls were cement to a height of two meters, where the iron plates
began. Each side of the tunnel had a cement sidewalk about one and one-half
meters wide. There were recesses in the walls about every 25 meters which
measured about 2.5 meters wide, 1.5 meters deep, and three meters high.
Source did not know their purpose. It was impossible for vehicles to pass
through the tunnel. See sketch of tunnel on page 3 .
3?
Part of this cement was used in the construction of the tunnel
Six or seven railroad cars of cement arrived daily at the railroad station
which was located in a two-story brick building in the center of the city.
4. Work on the tunnel was done in three eight-hour shifts. Excavation was begun
at the same time on both sides of the mountain, and the two shafts were
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joined in mid-June 1949. About 33 persons per shift worked on each end of
the tunnel. No military personnel were employed. The double-track standard
gauge railroad was built after the tunnel was comuleted, F_
in mid-July 1949, trains were not yet using the line because a
ravine on the Tbilisi side of the tunnel had to be filled in and the old
line had not yet been linked to the tunnel tracks.
the new line would be used for communications with the
coastal cities and that the old line would be completely unused.
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Railroad T=el in City of Navyy Mon
Approximate scale: 1/100
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50X1-HUM
(rN' FORMATION, REPORT INFORMATION REPORT
This material contains information affecting the National Defense of the United States within the meaning of the Espionage Laws, Title
13, U.S.C. Secs. 793 and 794, the transmission or revelation of which in any manner to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
C-0-N-F-I-D-E-N-T-I-A-L
DATE OF
INFO.
PLACE &
DATE ACQ.
USSR (Velikoluksk
aya Oblast)
The Velikiye Luki-Riga Highway
Construction Project
DATE DISTR.
NO. PAGES
REFERENCES RD
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1. Construction work on the Velikiye-?Luki-Riga highway was begun in 1954;
this project was included in the 1951-1956 Plan but the construction was
at least six months behind schedule
A 250-kilometer stretch of road had been
completed and, as of October 1956, the construction had reached
Krasno koye (see overlay of map of the Gulf of Riga, WAC (153), on
page ). The road had no numerical designation and was classified
administratively as a third category highway. The Regional Highway
Construction Office No. 6 (DSR No. 6) was in charge of laying the foundar
tion and the roadbed and the Regional Road Exploitation Office took
charge of surfacing the road, installing kilometer markers and traffic
signs.
2. The highway was ten meters wide and consisted of a six-meter-wide center
lane with two-meter-wide shoulders on either side; it had two-way traffic
and could be used by all vehicles not exceeding ten tons. Tractors did
not drive on the highway, and truck transport consisted mainly of
harvested crops; one bus line provided passenger service between Velikiye
Luki and Novosok~. The minimum radius for curves was 60 meters,
banking on curves was normally about four percent, and the maximum grade
in the completed stretch was a seven percent grade at the point of exit
from Velikiye Luki; the rest of the road was almost flat, the maximum
grade being not more than three percent. The finished stretch between
Velikiye Luki and Nasva included two grade crossings - one at the entrance
to Nasva and the other just after leaving Novosokolniki - and two seven-
meter-wide bridges; one was a metal bridge (other details not known)
erected about four kilometers from Velikiye Luki and the other, some 40
kilometers from the latter city, was a 15-meter-long, single span, rein-
forced concrete structure some eight meters above the surface of the 50X1-HUM
water.
3. The highway passed mainly through an agricultural area, and no industrial
plants, therefore, were located along the route; between Velikiye Luki
and Nasva, the highway crossed a river as 50X1-HUM
well as some smaller bodies of water. The terrain was level as far as
Nasva and the clayey soil in this area was suitable for this type of
construction; from Nasva to Krasnogorodskoye, however, the terrain was
swampy and difficulties were encountered. In snowy areas, it was common
practice in the USSR to elevate highways which traversed flat ground and,
in accordance with Soviet road building techniques, the Velikiye Luki-
Riga highway was elevated between 60 and 100 centimeters. Despite this,
there were many stretches between Nasva and Krasnogorodskoye where the
water caused holes and cracks in the roadbed, even before the road was
opened. It was necessary to tear up portions of the road and to construct
drainage systems, replace the clayey soil with soil more resistant to
water, replace the gravel in the foundation with limestone, and re-surface
the road with cold asphalt. There was an abundance of round stone in the
area and quarries, as well as sand pits, were opened up as near the
highway as possible in order to save on transportation cost; limestone,
however, had to be shipped by rail from Nevel to Novosokolniki and thence
by truck to the construction site. In accordance with usual construction
practices, the work was done by teams: the first team constructed bridges
and installed water conduits; the second prepared the ballast bed, and
the third laid the foundation and the first layer of the roadbed. The
foundation consisted of a 15-centimeter-thick layer of sand and an 18-
centimeter-thick layer of gravel; for the roadbed, a mixture of gravel,
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sand and tar was heated to a temperature of 60 degrees Centigrade until
it turned a uniform dark brown color, whereafter it was laid to a thick-
ness of seven centimeters. The Regional Road Exploitation Office, which
had charge of the work from this point on, surfaced the road in the
following manner: the roadbed was first covered with a layer of tar,
followed by a layer of crushed limestone not more than three centimeters
thick, then a second layer of tar, topped by a layer of crushed lime-
stone not exceeding one centimeter in thickness. The road was then
considered ready for use.
4. No prison labor or military personnel were employed on this project.
The construction crew numbered about 80; most of them were new and
inexperienced in this type of construction and, therefore, not very
efficient. They included two bridge and highway construction engineers,
some four technicians, two mechanics, 30 truck drivers, the bulldozer,
serener. grader and excavator operators and common laborers.
the labor force was inadequate, and half again as many
men should have been employed to keep the work up to schedule; the crew
was supposed to complete a 750-meter stretch of road each day but
actually averaged only 350 meters. The machinery included six bull-
dozers, three scrapers, five graders, three excavators, two ten-ton
and two five-ton road rollers, two trucks for spreading bitumen, and
about 30 dump trucks of two and 3.5-ton capacity. Highway maintenance
was in charge of Road Exploitation Office No. 2 in Velikiye Luki; the
maintenance crew consisted of three technicians and some 30 laborers.
Traffic signs were similar to those used in other countries. Square,
90-centimeter high concrete piles, painted white, were used on curves
to indicate the edge of the road. One service station existed in
Velikiye Luki and another in Novoaokolniki, but there were none along
the completed stretch of highway. The highway was not guarded.
5. Construction personnel received the following Jmonthly salaries: the
chief engineers and engineers, 2,500 and 1,300 rubles, respectively,
plus bonuses for fulfilling the plan; the technicians, between 780 and
700 rubles, plus a bonus for fulfilling the plan; the truck drivers,
1,200 rubles; the bulldozer, grader, scraper and excavator operators,
800 rubles; the mechanics, between 800 and 700 rubles, and the laborers,
between 450 and 500 rubles.
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Overlay of map of Qul.f of Riga
Scale 1:1..000..000
LQ
O
Krasnogorodskoye
Velikiye Luki
W
0
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COUNTRY: USSR (Moscow Oblast)
SUBJECT: Construction of the Rhimki-Spas DATE
Highway
1. The XhImki-Spas highway, an eight-kilometer-long stretch of road extending from
lbimki to Spas (19 55-55, 1 37-24), connected the Leningrad and the Volokolamak
highways; it was built to prevent traffic congestion in the center of Moscow.
It was a third category, eight-meter-wide highway, consisting of a center lane
six meters wide with one-meter-wide shoulders on either side; it could with-
stand five-metric-ton vehicles. Tractors were not permitted on the road and
the shoulders were intended solely for pedestrian use. The terrain was
slightly undulating and the road crossed over only one brook (name not re-
called); there were no bridges, tunnels, fords, dikes, or dams along the route.
The road was elevated between 60 and 120 percent, the maximum grade was between
five and six percent, the minimum radius on curves was 150 meters, and the
usual banking was 'from three to four percent. Traffic was light: truck traffic
consisted mainly of three and four-metric-ton trucks loaded with construction
materials (gravel and sand) for Moscow and its environs; one bus line provided
passenger service between Iimki and Spas. Traffic was heavier during the
summer than in the winter and, during heavy snowfalls, the road was impassable
for several days at a stretch; however, no traffic bottlenecks occurred, since
vehicles proceeding along either the Leningrad or the Volokolamsk.highways and
which normally would have used this cutoff, simply took the longer route through
Moscow.
2. Sandpits located midway between Ibimki and Spas provided sand and gravel; asphalt
was obtained from Moscow, bitumen from Lyuber6sy, and granite (for gravel) from
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ffiev. The continuous construction method was used., i.e., the ballast box, the
sand and grading layer, a deep coating of asphalt, and then an agglomerate of
hot asphalt. The roadbed was between 42 and 45 centimeters thick and was
composed of three layers: first, a 20 to 22-centimeter-thick layer of sand.,
followed by a 16-centimeter-thick layer of gravel between two and eight centi-
meters in diameter; the third layer was six centimeters thick and consisted of
gravel (1.6 centimeters in diameter), sand, and bitumen. The binding agent was
gravel fragments of granite) and bitumen (three and a half liters per square
meter).
3. The construction crew numbered about 100 and, included a chief engineer, two
technicians, a general supervisor, four foremen, a 40-man brigade performing
earthwork operations, a five-man brigade in charge of installing conduits,
plus a ten-man auxiliary brigade; the remaining 30-edd workmen included mech-
anics, truck drivers and the operators of construction equipment such as
scrapers, excavators, graders, etc. The machinery consisted of three scrapers,
two excavators, two graders, three mechanical asphalt spreaders, three road
rollers, a gravel spreader, and about 15 dump trucks of four and a half metric
ton capacity. Maintenance and repair of the highway was in charge of Road
Maintenance Section No. 5 (Doroz1nyy Zksplo atsionnyy Uchasto#k-- DIJ---Jo. 5);
one road laborer was responsible for a three-kilometer-long stretch of road.
4. The following monthly wages were paid to construction personnel: the chief
engineer, general supervisor, technicians and foremen received 1,800, 1,200,
1,100 and 800 rubles, respectively, besides production bonuses; the seventh,
sixth, fifth, fourth, and third category workers received 1,200, 900, 875,
750, and 700 rubles respectively; vehicle drivers were paid according to the
number of hours they worked and received bonuses for maintaining the machinery
in good repair and for saving fuel and spare parts.
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