Alexander Nevsky Bridge - the longest drawbridge

In the course of excursions around St. Petersburg, guides often hear the question of which swing bridge is the longest? And they learn that the bridge of Alexander Nevsky holds the palm tree. The length (without buildings on the shore) is 629 meters, with ramps - almost a kilometer (905.7 m). The width of the building is thirty-five meters. The Unicum was built in 1965, although it could stand on the threshold of its century: the construction along the Neva River, in the interval between the Zalessky and Nevsky Prospects, was also envisaged by the general plan of the city of a distant revolutionary era (1917).

On a competition basis

Connecting the right bank of the city with the center, the Alexander Nevsky Bridge completes the main street of St. Petersburg. It is believed that here ends the old Peter, he escorts daily passengers and pedestrians to the historical district of Malaya Okhta, to where the "stalinkas" (houses built during the period from 1930 to 1950) stand, typical buildings of the 1960s.

A direct and short way from iron and concrete led ohtintsev (and the population of vast surroundings) to a qualitatively new level of being. The pluses can be attributed to the fact that the line passed through Nevsky, "close", and finally, M. Ohta and Vasilievsky Island.

The history of the construction of the bridge in close proximity to Alexander Nevsky Square and its further existence are full of complex, sometimes dramatic moments.

In 1960, the Leningrad City Executive Committee announced a competition for the best plan for the overpass through the main water artery of Peter. Unusual for the time the event was of a closed nature (really unprecedented case in times of planned economy). Leningrad and Moscow organizations involved in the design of bridges took part in the contest to create technical and decorative projects.

In the parade of ideas, the Institute for the Design of Housing and Civil Engineering "Lenproekt" Leningrad Branch of the USSR ASAA (Academy of Construction and Architecture) had the right to participate.

Consider all the details

After experiencing many stressful days and sleepless nights, experts showed the world how they see the bridge of Alexander Nevsky. A strict jury decided to not award the main prize, considering that no project meets the necessary requirements. The second award was awarded to the variant developed by the Lengiprotransmost Institute. Of the total mass, the plan of the Leningrad branch of the USSR ASAA was also singled out, but the academician never received the signal "For execution".

Project assignments and working drawings were handled by Lengiprotransmost. According to the huge number of plans, it was necessary to build a multilevel complex of bridges, tunnels, roads, clearly bred future traffic flows. Decoupling on the right and left banks of the Neva was carefully thought through.

The authors forced work spaces inside the bridge ramps: parking garages were planned for 230 cars. But this does not impress the Alexander Nevsky Bridge. Distribution! Here's a shock for the look and imagination. Dvokryly flight of the ferry-concrete river beauty resembles the wings of the giant bird's wings. However, all these people saw later, and then, having prepared well, the performers started building.

In the world, as you know, there is no harmony

And here he came the landmark moment of 1965, when the bridge of Alexander Nevsky in seven spans ascended over the Neva. The axis of symmetry is the center of the divergent section (its length was 50 meters). As planned, the "gate" for ships with a fixed axis of rotation was located exactly in the middle of the river. It was evident that the sprawl span is based on more massive supports than all the others.

Many thought that the massive "swinging" part of the bridge hinders the harmonious perception of the structure. The main components - the dimensions, color, material, of which it consists, go against the analogous elements of the fixed spans, which are covered with continuous concrete reinforced beams of variable height. But the harmony is good, but the reliability is better.

As for the bridge fence, lampposts (they are also tram and trolleybus electric locomotives), structures for securing the supporting and fixing devices of the contact network, all these elements are kept in a strict, modern style and perfectly complement the face of the now historic "crossing".

And today some people consider the construction to be majestic, others do not find anything special in it, except that traffic jams during peak hours. Is the denouement at the bridge of Alexander Nevsky unable to cope with modern traffic flows?

Riding on top - the "highlight" of the bridge (the category of equidistant buildings). Designed in accordance with the proportionality of the construction of large parts of the structure (the main beams, pillars) look rather elegant. They were tested for strength on May 15, 1965 (a column of tanks passed over the bridge).

Tested by time

The celebration on the occasion of the opening of the bridge, which received the name of the patron of the city - the Russian commander Alexander Nevsky, was held on November 5. When construction was in progress, the object was called Staro-Nevsky. Among the new technologies used there are ferroconcrete shells for supports, buried at a depth of 35 meters, the use of cables (standing rope cables), the tension of which, depending on the temperature of the air, was controlled by devices, structures of V-shaped span structures.

But advanced technologies did not become a guarantee of absolute quality. The waterproofing made of glass wool dissolved in the material distributed at the time, called bitumen; The guys, processed with gun oil, rusted; The cables began to burst (in two years 56 pieces were torn).

To top it off, in 1987, a counterweight to the spreading bay collapsed into the river (weighing 17 tons!). The bridge was closed for repairs. Organized the work of a temporary ferry crossing. Soon the main movement resumed, but it was a Pyrrhic victory. Defects that threaten the integrity of the bridge, have not been eliminated.

Large-scale work to eliminate malfunctions, worn out structural elements, restore and replace in order to improve the performance of the bridge was carried out in the new millennium (2000-2002). Restored sprawl span, stationary parts of the crossing, walls of the embankment adjacent to the construction, was replaced by waterproofing and twelve kilometers of ropes made of steel.

Since 2003, the "record holder in length" is decorated with artistic illumination. It consists of half a thousand lamps, eight instruments with mirrors and reflectors (projectors). With such magical illumination, the Alexander Nevsky Bridge's divorce is a surreal plot.