St. Petersburg is unthinkable without bridges. Mostly tourists come here to walk along the romantic embankments of the Neva or ride along the canals in a pleasure boat. And even more. Tourists especially get up in the middle of the night to look at the bridges and how impressively large ships sail under them. However, these highways, linking various coasts, cause many problems for the inhabitants of Northern Palmyra themselves. Motorists are especially nervous, because the bridges of St. Petersburg (2014 was a record year in this regard) were constantly and often unpredictably closed for repairs. And what does the near future predict for us? Which of the three hundred bridges in St. Petersburg will be closed for reconstruction? And what will be the schedule for distributing those thirteen that allow large vessels to enter the Neva and its many branches? In this article, we will only talk about the Tuchkov Bridge. Its history, name, location and even the wiring schedule will be described here.
Location
The more precise location of this facility is Russia, St. Petersburg. The Tuchkov bridge connects both banks of the Malaya Neva. It is laid from Bolshoy Prospekt of the Petrograd side to Kadetskaya Street and the First LineVasilyevsky island. Finding this bridge on the map of St. Petersburg is quite simple. It rests on the Makarov embankment on Vasilyevsky Island. And on the Petrograd side, it is adjacent to Dobrolyubov and Bolshoy avenues. Zhdanovskaya embankment also comes out to it. The nearest metro station to Tuchkov Bridge is called "Sportivnaya". The stop of the St. Petersburg subway got its name not by chance. In the vicinity are the Petrovsky Stadium and the Yubileiny Sports Palace. But when the metro was being built, the station was thought to be called "Tuchkov Most". But it didn't work out. Other sights of the northern capital are also located near the bridge - the Prince Vladimir Cathedral and the island of Tuchkov Buyan.
Origin of the name
As for the emergence of an interesting name for the bridge, historians have three equal versions. This building was built in the middle of the eighteenth century. The bridge bore the official name Nikolsky for a long time, but popular rumor stubbornly called it Tuchkov. It would be most reasonable to assume that he received his name in honor of the island through which he runs. However, there is an opinion that Tuchkov Buyan got its name from the bridge, and not vice versa. One of the engineers who built this crossing (at that time wooden) in the 18th century was a certain A. V. Tuchkov. The bridge could also be named after a merchant who had timber warehouses on the banks of the Malaya Neva. In 1758, four entrepreneurs, among whom was Avraam Tuchkov, filed a petition with the Senate to transfer several bridges to them for “hereditary maintenance”. For this, they pledged to connect Vasilyevsky Island with the Petrograd Side.
Construction history
The artel of four entrepreneurs kept its word, and already in the same 1758, Nikolsky Bridge appeared on the alignment of Maly Prospekt on Vasilyevsky Island. He was wooden. At depth, it was composed of a pontoon part, and in shallow water it rested on piles. Its length was nine hundred meters, which made it the longest bridge in St. Petersburg. In 1835 it was rebuilt. An earthen dam was built from Dobrolyubov Avenue (then it was called Aleksandrovsky). The Tuchkov bridge then became a drawbridge. The moving part consisted of four wooden frames. The bridge was raised using conventional hand winches. This wooden building burned to the ground in 1870 from criminal negligence: someone threw a cigarette butt. Immediately, work began on the construction of a new bridge. In 1920 it was rebuilt into a twenty-span. Immediately after the end of the war, the wooden parts were replaced with metal ones. Breeding winches began to work on electricity. The bridge underwent another reconstruction in 1960. Only one of the twenty spans was movable, while small vessels could safely ply under two more.
What Tuchkov Bridge looks like today
In 1964, the Mariinsky system was replaced by the more advanced Volga-B altic Canal. The adoption of a new decision for the passage of large-tonnage vessels is overdue. Therefore, the bridge was again closed for reconstruction. It was carried out by the engineers of the enterprise "Lengiproinzhproekt" B. B. Levin and V. V. Demchenko according to the projectfamous Soviet architects L. A. Noskov and P. A. Areshev. It was then that the Tuchkov Bridge was acquired, the repair, or rather, the complete restructuring of which was completed in 1965, the modern look. The number of flights was reduced from twenty to three. Only one of them - in the middle - adjustable. Now trams, cars, pedestrians go over the bridge. Naturally, for the safety of machines and people, the structure is closed from time to time for repairs. And it's confusing public and private transport.
Bridge drawing
St. Petersburg cannot be called Venice. Large ships strive to make their way into the depths of the city center, and they are not limited to parking at the seaport. Therefore, when the navigation period begins at the end of April, lasting until November, it is necessary to skip ships. Some of them pass under spans anyway, but especially large ocean liners still require more space. That's what happens at night bridges. St. Petersburg has thirteen of them. These are Blagoveshchensky, Volodarsky, Tuchkov, to whom this article is devoted, and others. To watch this action, tourists flock to the bridges. However, for Petersburgers this is a real hassle. In 2005, the Bolshoi Obukhovsky Bridge was built, along which you can constantly get from one coast to the other. However, it is located too far from the center. Sometimes it's more profitable to wait for the resumption of traffic on some bridge than to get out onto the bypass highway.
Wiring schedule
Fortunately for Petersburgers and unfortunately for tourists, beautiful drawbridges open their lifting parts only at night. This spectacle is especially beautiful in the summer, during the white nights. But when do you need to go to the Tuchkov Bridge to admire it? Also, motorists who are thinking of driving through the Tuchkov Bridge are interested in the schedule for lifting the moving part of the structure. The wiring is carried out twice a night. The first time the traffic stops exactly at two o'clock. The spans fall into place only at 2:55, that is, for almost an hour you can admire how large ships pass along the Malaya Neva. The second time, the wiring is carried out from half past four to five in the morning.
Meaning of the Tuchkov Bridge
For St. Petersburg, this highway is strategically important. All enterprises located on Vasilyevsky Island do not have a connection with the railway, and therefore the only way to deliver raw materials and export products is along the Tuchkov Bridge. But it's not just trucks that create heavy traffic. The bridge leads to the Krestovsky, Kamenny and Elagin Islands - the favorite vacation spots for the residents of St. Petersburg. Initially, this structure was not designed for such a traffic flow, and therefore the highway was often reconstructed and expanded. The authorities warn in advance when the passage on it will be closed. The Tuchkov bridge is also being reconstructed for aesthetic reasons. So, in 2003, a backlight was brought to it, which made it unique and inimitable.
Will it be possible to admire the Tuchkov Bridge in 2015
Intense traffic flow had a negative impact on the condition of the road surface. Last year, this important highway was repeatedly closed for repairs. Sometimes only one-way traffic was allowed. But at the end of September, the passage was completely closed. Tuchkov bridge local authorities intend to reconstruct this year. In order to avoid a transport collapse when connecting Vasilyevsky Island with the Petrograd side, it was decided to leave one-way traffic - towards the city center. You can get back on the Birzhevoy Bridge. At the same time, the width of the roadway on Tuchkovo will be only eleven meters. It is planned to close the highway in May 2015, after the construction of the second exit from the Sportivnaya metro station is completed. The Tuchkov bridge, whose repair will cost the treasury 2.4 billion rubles, will be fully opened only by the end of 2016
Parameters
Despite the fact that the structure is made of reinforced concrete, it gives the impression of airiness. The bridge seems to hover over the waters of the Neva. It consists of three spans, one of which, fifty meters long, opens up. The total length of the bridge is more than two hundred meters, and the width is 36 meters.
