On August 1, the biggest cable-braced bridge in the Russian Far East, constructed ahead of the APEC summit due in September, opened for public traffic.

      The new bridge links the Far East city of Vladivostok and Russkiy island, where the Asian Pacific regional summit will take place. Its construction took a bit under 4 years and cost about 34 billion rubles (over $1 bln).

      The first official opening of the bridge took place on July 2 by Russian prime minister, who opened the bridge for technical transports. Now it is opened for public transport facilities and private cars. Still, the bridge will be closed to pedestrians, carrying only vehicles.

      The cable-braced bridge (cable braces are some kind of steel ropes which support a road bed) spans the Eastern Bosporus Strait and has several unique features. It is supported by 168 reinforced steel cables at a height of 70 meters. The longest steel cable is 580 meters. The bridge also has the longest opening in the world - about 1104 meters which stretches between two slant legs each 320 meters high.

      Before the new bridge was built, the city and the island were linked by ferry. The flow of cars was so huge on the opening day that there even was a small traffic congestion.

      However, the new bridge and its construction was criticized by some people, who wondered if it was so necessary to build such an expensive bridge to link to a small island with only 5 thousand inhabitants.

      The APEC summit will take place on Russkiy island in early September. It is expected to gather representatives of 23 countries.