Beam Collapses During M39 Road Construction in Uzbekistan

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — A beam collapsed and fell during the installation of beams for a new two-level U-turn structure on the M39 “Almaty — Bishkek — Tashkent — Shakhrisabz — Termez” highway on 6 August 2026. The incident occurred at the 1,303.5-km mark. No one was injured and there was no environmental damage. The Road Committee said.

The work is being carried out as part of a project to reconstruct a 60-km section of the M39 highway between km 1255 and km 1315, with the participation of the Islamic Development Bank and the OPEC Fund.

According to the committee, during installation one side of the beam was lifted by a crane before the other. As a result, excessive load gradually increased on the second side of the structure, causing the beam to collapse and fall.

The agency said that during the assembly of a bridge beam, particularly a prestressed reinforced-concrete structure, the beam can collapse because loads arising during installation may differ significantly from the design loads. As a rule, beams are designed to operate in a vertical position and transfer their own weight along the corresponding axis. This was also confirmed by the construction consulting organization involved in the project.

The construction company carried out the necessary work to address the consequences of the incident, and fragments of the collapsed beam were removed from the project site.

Specialists from Temelsu International Engineering Services Inc., the project’s engineering and consulting organization, have begun investigating the causes of the incident in accordance with established procedures.