Liteiny Bridge was the second crossing in St. Petersburg, constantly connecting the two banks of the main channel of the Neva. One of its distinctive features is the use of many world innovations in construction, both in approaching the construction process and in choosing building materials, technologies and mechanisms that ensure the functioning of the bridge. The work lasted 4 years and one month (a month longer than the initial calculations), claimed more than 30 lives and exceeded the initial estimate by 1.5 times. A lot of interesting historical facts and a mystical belief are connected with the Foundry Bridge that crossing it under the full moon can disappear forever.
History of construction
We can say that the history of the Neva crossing, which was in this place and had state significance, began earlier than the history of the city. Through it passed the way to Sweden. Novgorod road from the depths of the mainland met with leaving on Vyborg.
There was no exit to the river at the site of the modern Liteiny Bridge in St. Petersburg until 1849. It has been located here since 1711, the Foundry yard. Since 1786, a floating bridge has been leading 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 the Foundry Avenue went straight to the shore. It was to him that the Resurrection Bridge was transferred and renamed Liteiny. It functioned until 1865, when it was disrupted by the stormy April ice drift. The group of experts considering this incident made a proposal to build a permanent crossing. In 1869, the decision was finally made.
The City Duma, through an international competition, gathered 17 projects on its table in 1872, including foreign ones, and in December chose an English company 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 considering the issue by the newly created commission, the construction of a new bridge was entrusted to Russian citizens - military engineers - Colonel Amand Yegorovich 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 delivered late for a month - September 30, 1879. Total expenses exceeded initial estimates by 1.5 times and amounted to 5 million 100 thousand rubles. Despite these facts, all those involved in the construction were awarded, and Struve, as the 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 crossing to its previous name.
What was the Foundry Bridge originally
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, initially it was rotary. This type of bridge layout was used only once in the history of the construction of bridges across the Neva.
- We opened the span manually - the simplest mechanism was set in motion by 8 workers.
- The fence of the fixed part was cast according to the sketches of K. K. Rachau and was made in a mixture of two styles - the Baroque and the ancient meander. It consisted of 546 repeating images of two mermaids holding a St. Petersburg cartouche (shield with a coat of arms located on it). All this was complemented by a floral pattern and figures of marine animals placed between sections.
Innovations in construction and improvement
For the first time, light steel was used as a material for the manufacture of supporting structures instead of heavy cast iron. This made it possible to make arched spans twice as much.
During the construction, the coffer method was used - immersion at the bottom of the river (the depth of which reaches 24 meters in this part) of coffered structures resembling a giant box turned upside down, from which water is pushed out under high pressure and placed inside the workers to dig the soil. During deep-water operations, for various reasons, more than 30 people died, and the destruction that caused their death entailed additional costs and an extra month of construction.
The Foundry Bridge has long been known as the first, lit by 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 is more impressive in functionality than in beauty, photos of the Liteiny Bridge adorn many collections that visited the city on the Neva, and the cast-iron fence of the crossing is recognized as a cultural and historical monument and is accordingly protected by law.
Bridge today
The view in which the 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 urgent needs of the city - the flow of transport crossing the Neva has increased significantly, shipping has become more active and the scale of sailing through the main channel of the river, the ships grew significantly, which required the transfer of the adjustable 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 fell into one of the spans of the Liteiny Bridge, which, without exploding, pierced it, nevertheless inflicting significant damage. Thus, the bridge has acquired a modern look:
- It was expanded to 34 meters - of which 28 meters belong to the roadway, the remaining 6 are divided equally into sidewalks on both sides.
- The height of the fence is half a meter.
- The total length of the structure, including those built in the last century, located under the bridge on the banks of the Neva, pedestrian paths and two-level road interchanges, is 405.6 meters, of the six spans of the bridge itself - 396 meters.
- The weight of all metal structures is 5902 tons.
- The adjustable span has shifted to the center, has become expandable, its length has increased to 55 meters. With a weight of 3225 tons, thanks to a modern hydraulic drive, it rises to 67 ° in just 2 minutes.
- The lightweight railings of the movable part were replaced - instead of the fixed spans that differed in design from iron casting, copies of the main drawing were installed.
- The installation of new 28 supports for lights and a transport network, harmonizing in style with the fence of the bridge.
- Thanks to the replacement of the movable structure with a more modern one and the restructuring of the cumbersome supporting part of the old one, the bridge gained symmetry.
- The pedestrian zone, the carriageways of the fixed spans and the lifting part are covered with three different types of asphalt.
What time is Liteiny Bridge bred?
During the navigation period, the bridge is built and pulled down once a night. Interim information for this crossing is not provided.
- The wiring takes place at 1 hour 40 minutes, after 10 minutes the movement of large vessels into the divorced opening begins.
- Liteiny is brought down at 2 hours and 40 minutes; after 5 minutes, traffic begins to move along the bridge.
In the northern capital, large-scale events sometimes happen and, unfortunately, unforeseen situations, therefore it is better to clarify once again on specialized resources the construction schedule of the Liteiny Bridge, as well as the others involved in navigation.
