The Use of Low-head Waterpower Developments in Making Cargo Passages Through Lowland Rivers

The article is devoted to the problems of making cargo passages through low-head waterpower developments (those built in XX century in Central Russia). The paper presents an analysis of layout and structural properties of these passages which go through phreatic and concrete dams and through river-run power plants. The paper stresses the importance of these cargo passages for transport connection both at the time when hydraulic engineering structures were being built and nowadays. The research also points out the problems in cargo passages operation and explains why these problems occur. Motor highways through the biggest hydroelectric power stations of the Volga are taken as an example. The author offers some efficient technical solutions for making cargo passages through lowland rivers more effective.