FSUE “Rosmorport” has received a positive conclusion of the state expertise dated 11.12.2023 No. 39-1-1-3-075879-23, approved by FAI “Glavgosexpertiza of Russia”, on the project for the reconstruction of the facility “Bank protection of guard dam No. 3” in the seaport of Kaliningrad.

The bank protection of guard dam No. 3 is a hydraulic structure with a length of 2.1 km from the canal side, a width of 78 to 550 m, and depths at the cordon of the bank protection from -0.5 to -1.5 m. The structure is designed to prevent the destruction (erosion) of guard dam No. 3 protecting the section of the Kaliningrad Sea Canal from the south from wind and wave impact, ice and sediments from the Kaliningrad Bay, which influences the safety of navigation along the Kaliningrad Sea Canal.

The construction of the bank protection from the canal side is a two-row stakewall of wooden piles with a diameter of 25 cm, immersed to a depth of up to 3.7 m, and the marks of the pile heads of +1.1 m. The pile space is filled with stone (rockfill).

From the bay side, the bank protection structure is a two-row stakewall of inclined wooden piles with rock filling which is now virtually completely destroyed. There is no rock filling, only free-standing piles are visible at a distance of up to 40 m from the shore. Reinforced concrete semicircular segments are laid here and there. Part of the bank protection with a length of 106 m, which is made as a metal sheet piling wall, monolithic with a reinforced concrete head, has in places destruction up to 30 cm deep with exposure and corrosion of reinforcement.

During the long-term (over 100 years) operation of the bank protection, the actual mark of the top of wooden piles, due to the gradual destruction of their head above the rotting level, decreased from -0.3 to +0.4 m which led to the dumping of stone and the destruction of the dam body. The loss of the cross section of the preserved piles head parts is more than 80 %. There is a constant gradual process of backfilling rock falling out between the piles of the spur stakewall, and in places where the stakewall piles are broken larger stones fall out. In some places, wooden piles and rockfill are absent at a distance of up to 40 m.

The implementation of the planned measures for the reconstruction of the bank protection of guard dam No. 3 will prevent the destruction of the dam body from the sides of the Kaliningrad Sea Canal and the Kaliningrad Bay, which, in turn, will significantly reduce the volume of alluvial phenomena at the fairway of the Kaliningrad Sea Canal (ice and bottom sediments) from the Kaliningrad Bay.

Subject to the allocation of the necessary funding, the start of construction and installation work is scheduled for 2026.