Moscow bridge in Kyiv

2024 Author: Harold Hamphrey | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:06

Moskovsky Bridge (Kyiv) is one of the four road bridges in the capital of Ukraine, connecting the two banks of the Dnieper in the northern part of the city. Built according to a unique design by architect A. V. Dobrovolsky and engineers G. B. Fuchs, E. A. Levinsky, B. M. Grebnya, B. S. Romanenko.

Description

Moskovsky Bridge (Kyiv), whose photo captivates with its peculiar lightness and elegance, is the first cable-stayed bridge in the Soviet Union. This is a whole complex more than 9 km long, consisting of approaches to flights across the Dnieper and Desenka, roads on Trukhanov Island, exits to the Dnieper Waves recreation center, and parking.

Kyiv (history): Moscow Bridge

Recovering from the devastating war, in the 50s and 60s Kyiv grew rapidly. It became necessary to build new bridges across the Dnieper. The river in the city is wide, with numerous branches, shoals, backwaters, tributaries. This made it difficult to design a massive structure.

In 1966, the master plan for the development of the capital of Ukraine was adopted, involving the construction of at least seven large bridges. Half a century later in KyivThere are only 4 such facilities in operation. One of them is the Moscow Bridge.

The first in the USSR

Design work started in the late 60s. The designers had a non-trivial task to build spans in such a way that the pillars supporting them would not interfere with navigation along the Dnieper. The architect Anatoly Dobrovolsky and the leading engineer, now Professor Georgy Fuchs, settled on a cable-stayed structure. It involves supporting spans with cables, which makes it possible to abandon supports in the riverbed.

There was no such construction experience in the Soviet Union. The designers had to develop the project from scratch - from the appearance to the manufacturing process and installation of each element.

Work began in 1971 and was carried out around the clock, in any weather, without interruption for five years. Today, the building that adorned Kyiv is history. The Moscow bridge, whose photo is impressive in size, was commissioned on December 3, 1976. In 1981, the team of authors for the development of the project was awarded the USSR Council of Ministers Prize.

Features

The Moskovsky bridge connects the right-bank Podolsky and Obolonsky districts with the left-bank Dnieper district (residential microdistricts Voskresenka, Raduzhny, Troyeshchina). The complex consists of:

• cable-stayed bridge across the Dnieper (width 31.4 m, length 816 m);
• of the bridge across the Desenka river (length 732 m);
• overpass, laid across the Heroes of Stalingrad Avenue (length 55 m);
• drivewaysways.

Design

Moskovsky Bridge (Kyiv) is a unique building. The navigable part of the Dnieper, thanks to the single-pylon cable-stayed system, is free from supports, which allows ships to navigate freely. One high pylon is located on the left bank. The right-bank part is a flyover with spans of 63 meters. A three-hundred-meter steel stiffening beam (the largest in the former USSR) in a cable-stayed run is supported by guys woven from steel ropes (20-40 in each guy). The total length of the ropes is 54.6 km.

The shrouds rest on an A-shaped pylon 119 meters high. The distance from the carriageway to the arch of the pylon is 53 meters. In the two legs-supports of the pylon there is one assembly shaft with iron stairs of 8 spans each. They converge over the arch of the tunnel. Inside there is a working room with an area of about 10 m².

Moskovsky bridge is decorated from above with a stylized sculpture of the old coat of arms of Kyiv (sculptors B. S. Dovgan and F. I. Yuryev). There is one balcony on each side of the coat of arms.

Unrealized ideas

Moskovsky bridge is a highly efficient transport engineering structure. However, the designers considered several projects to make it not just functional, but with some zest. In particular, the issue of building a panoramic restaurant at the top of the pylon was discussed. A similar facility was erected on a cable-stayed bridge in Prague and is very popular with tourists. However, the then head of the Ukrainian SSR, Vladimir Shcherbitsky, did not approve of the idea,motivating the decision by the fight against drunkenness.

Another project was the construction of a spectacular sculpture on top of the pylon - a boat in which the founding princes of Kyiv are located. Sculptor Vasily Borodai made a sketch that Brezhnev and Shcherbitsky liked. The order was given to establish the composition, but the technical embodiment of the idea turned out to be intractable. At the highest point of the pylon, corresponding to the height of a 35-storey building, strong winds blow. The design proved to be unreliable. In addition, at such a height, the sculptural composition is poorly distinguishable. As a result, the boat was installed in a park near the Dnieper. It has become a symbol of the Ukrainian capital. And the pylon itself was decorated with a copper plate depicting the coat of arms of Kyiv.

Vehicle traffic

Before delivery, the Moscow bridge was tested for strength. 150 trucks loaded with sand entered the traffic lanes. Thus, the load created by transport during heavy traffic hours was repeatedly exceeded. The tests, which were carried out for two days, proved the reliability of the cable-stayed structure. On November 5, 1983, a trolleybus line across the bridge was opened. Route No. 29 connected the Voskresenka residential area with the Petrovka metro station.

By the beginning of the 2000s, the flow of vehicles increased significantly. There were 3 traffic lanes on each side, delimited by a two-meter dividing zone. In 2005, city planners decided to remove the dividing zone, replacing it with an additional reverse strip. The idea turned out to be unsuccessful - the accident rate is significantlyincreased.

In order to minimize the number of accidents, the reverse lane was replaced by a bump stop in 2007. The freed up space and a slight reduction in lane widths have increased the number of traffic flows to four in each direction.

Name magic

Why the bridge was called Moscow, even the creators of the building do not know. Initially, it was supposed to be called the Northern one in accordance with its location on the city plan. Later it was decided to name it in the spirit of the time - the name of Friendship of Peoples. However, shortly before acceptance, an order came to give the bridge the name Moscow.

After gaining independence, the possibility of renaming the North, Troeshchinsky, or the bridge to them. Stepan Bandera. In 2015, the Kyiv City State Administration held public hearings on the renaming of the object to the bridge named after. George Fuchs, one of his designers. The Profile Commission rejected the initiative.