Liteyny bridge in St. Petersburg: photo, wiring schedule

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

Liteiny Bridge has become the second crossing in St. Petersburg, permanently connecting the two banks of the main channel of the Neva. One of its distinguishing features is the use of many world innovations in the construction, both in the approach to the construction process and in the choice of building materials, technologies and mechanisms that ensure the functioning of the bridge. The work was carried out for 4 years and one month (a month longer than the original calculations), claimed more than 30 human lives and exceeded the initial estimate by 1.5 times. There are many interesting historical facts connected with the Foundry Bridge and the mystical belief that crossing it under the full moon, you can disappear forever.

History of construction

It can be said that the history of the crossing over the Neva, which was located in this place and had state significance, began earlier than the history of the city. Through it passed the way to Sweden. Novgorod road fromdepths of the mainland met with leaving for Vyborg.

There was no access to the river at the site of the modern Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg until 1849. Since 1711, the Foundry Yard has been located here. Since 1786, a floating bridge led to the Vyborg side, called Voskresensky and starting from the eponymous avenue (now Chernyshevsky avenue).

The Foundry Yard ceased to exist in 1849, thanks to which Foundry Avenue came right up to the shore. It was to him that the Resurrection Bridge was transferred and renamed Liteiny. It functioned until 1865, when it was torn down by a stormy April ice drift. The panel of experts reviewing this incident made a proposal to build a permanent crossing. In 1869, the decision was finally made.

The City Duma, through an international competition, collected 17 projects on its table in 1872, including foreign ones, and in December chose an English enterprise as the winner. This decision did not receive the support of the Ministry of Railways. The winner was awarded, but permission to build was not given. After consideration of the issue by the newly created commission, the construction of a new bridge was entrusted to Russian citizens - military engineers - Colonel Amand Egorovich Struve and his assistant, Captain A. A. Weiss, and on August 30, 1875, construction was officially started. The work was planned for 4 years.

The Foundry Bridge was commissioned a month late - September 30, 1879. The total expenses exceeded the initial calculations by 1.5 times and amounted to 5 million 100 thousand rubles. Despiteon these facts, all those involved in the construction were awarded, and Struve, as project manager, was promoted to the rank of major general.

In 1903, on the 200th anniversary of the city, the bridge was given a new name in honor of the reigning Emperor Alexander II. But 1917 returned the previous name to the crossing.

What was the original Foundry Bridge

In its first version, the permanent Foundry Bridge had the following parameters:

• Width - 24.5 meters.
• The length of the movable wing is 19.8 meters, it was originally swivel. This type of bridge drawing was used only once in the history of the construction of bridges across the Neva.
• The span was opened manually - the simplest mechanism was set in motion by 8 workers.
• The railing of the fixed part was cast according to sketches by K. K. Rachau and is made in a mixture of two styles - baroque and antique meander. It consisted of 546 recurring images of two mermaids holding the St. Petersburg cartouche (a shield with a coat of arms on it). All this was complemented by a floral pattern and figures of marine animals placed between the sections.

Innovations in construction and improvement

For the first time, light steel was used as a material for the manufacture of load-bearing structures instead of heavy cast iron. This made it possible to make arched spans twice as large.

During the construction, the caisson method was used - immersion to the bottom of the river (the depth of which in this part reaches 24meters) structures - caissons, resembling a giant upside down box, from which water is pushed out under high pressure and workers are placed inside to dig the soil. More than 30 people died from various causes during deep-water work, and the destruction that caused their death caused additional costs and an extra month of construction.

The Foundry Bridge has long been known as the first to be illuminated with electricity.

Some time after the opening, the manual rotation mechanism was replaced by a water turbine, the power of which was already 36 horsepower, the pressure was created using the city water supply. Such a system has become a world novelty.

Despite the fact that it impresses with functionality rather than beauty, many collections of visitors to the city on the Neva adorn the photos of the Liteiny Bridge, and the iron fence of the crossing is recognized as a cultural and historical monument and is accordingly protected by law.

Bridge today

The look in which Liteiny Bridge now appears to residents and guests of the capital, it acquired after the reconstruction of 1966-1967, which was carried out in order to adapt the crossing to the actual needs of the city - the flow of transport crossing the Neva increased significantly, shipping became more active and the scale of ships sailing through the main channel of the river has grown significantly, which required the transfer of a draw span to the deeper part of the Neva, changing its size and improving the lifting mechanism.

In addition, during the Great Patriotic War, a bomb hit one of the spans of the Liteiny Bridge, which, without exploding, pierced it, nevertheless causing significant damage. Thus, the bridge acquired a modern look:

• It has been widened to 34 meters - of which 28 meters are roadway, the remaining 6 are divided equally into sidewalks on both sides.
• The fence is half a meter high.
• The total length of the structure, including the footpaths and two-level road interchanges built in the last century, located under the bridge on the banks of the Neva, is 405.6 meters, the six spans of the bridge itself are 396 meters.
• The weight of all metal structures is 5902 tons.
• The draw span has shifted to the center, has become drop-down, its length has increased to 55 meters. With a weight of 3225 tons, thanks to a modern hydraulic drive, it rises 67 ° in just 2 minutes.
• The lightened railing of the movable part was replaced - instead of fixed spans that differed in design from cast iron, copies of the main pattern were installed.
• Installation of 28 new supports for lanterns and transport network, in harmony with the style of the bridge fence.
• Thanks to the replacement of the movable structure with a more modern one and the restructuring of the bulky supporting part of the old one, the bridge has gained symmetry.
• Pedestrian area, fixed-span carriageway and liftway are covered with three different types of asph alt pavement.

What time is the Foundry bredbridge?

During the navigation period, the bridge is raised and lowered once a night. Intermediate mixing for this crossing is not provided.

• Distribution takes place at 1 hour 40 minutes, after 10 minutes the movement of large vessels into the divorced opening begins.
• The Foundry is brought down at 2 hours 40 minutes, after 5 minutes traffic begins on the bridge.

Large-scale events sometimes happen in the northern capital and, unfortunately, unforeseen situations, therefore, it is better to clarify the schedule for the layout of the Liteiny Bridge, as well as for the rest involved in navigation, on specialized resources.

Peter's bridges in numbers and their records

Total there are 342 bridges in St. Petersburg, 21 of them are being drawn, transport crossings out of the total number - 297, intended only for pedestrians - 24.

The longest is the Alexander Nevsky Bridge, stretching (together with the ramps) for almost a kilometer, more precisely - 905.7 meters.

The widest in St. Petersburg, and concurrently in the world, was the so-called Blue Bridge - 97.3 meters.