Every year, from April to November, drawbridges provide navigation along the Neva River, creating the necessary conditions for navigation. The laying of bridges in St. Petersburg and their construction in accordance with the schedule is a priority area of work for St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Mostotrest.
In St. Petersburg, there are 18 drawbridges - those that have preserved drawbridges in working order. Of these, 12 crossings are regularly opened during the navigation period:
- Troitsky, Liteiny, Bolsheokhtinsky, Alexander Nevsky and Volodarsky bridges across the Neva River;
- Annunciation and Palace bridges - across the Bolshaya Neva, connecting the central part of the city and Vasilyevsky Island;;
- Birzhevaya and Tuchkov bridges - across the Malaya Neva, which connect the Petrograd side with Vasilyevsky Island;
- Sampsonievsky, Grenadiersky and Kantemirovsky bridges across the Bolshaya Nevka.
The bridges across the Bolshaya Neva, Malaya Neva and Neva are being raised in accordance with the approved schedule. Including the Blagoveshchensky, Palace, Birzhevoy, Tuchkov and Volodarsky bridges are usually bred and built twice a night.
Three bridges across the Bolshaya Nevka are being built according to preliminary applications, which must be submitted two days in advance.
The drawbridges of St. Petersburg differ in design - each crossing has its own characteristics.
Drawbridges of the Neva crossings can be single-winged, like those of the Troitsky, Liteiny, Volodarsky, Grenadiersky and Kantemirovskiy bridges, or two-winged, like the others. But they all belong to the drop-down system: in the divorced position, the wings are raised up.
However, this was not always the case - half a century ago, the Foundry and Kirovsky (now Troitsky) bridges had a pivoting system of drawbridges: passing ships, the wings moved apart in a horizontal plane. This significantly limited the navigable dimensions, so in 1965-1967 the crossings were reconstructed.
A unique sliding-opening drawbridge system is located near the Birzhevoy Bridge. At the beginning of the wiring, the bridge opens up by 15 centimeters, the wings roll away from each other, the center of gravity of the wing changes, and this greatly facilitates the wiring. This design has no analogues in the world. The Grenadier Bridge also has its own peculiarity: it is drawn up in three stages with short stops.
Most of the bridges in St. Petersburg are raised using the latest hydraulic systems. The exceptions are Birzhevoy and Sampsonievsky bridges, whose wiring is carried out using an electromechanical drive. On some bridges - for example, on the Palace or Sampsonievsky - the unique possibility of manual wiring has also been preserved.
Modern hydraulics allow the bridge to be fully opened in 2-5 minutes, and the bridge is built in the same time.
During navigation, up to 50 ships can pass under the wings of the Neva bridges per night. Petersburg's bridges and their guidance are provided by highly qualified teams of mechanics from St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "Mostotrest". In winter, between navigations, Mostotrest specialists carry out scheduled repairs and debugging of all mechanisms and systems, which allows you to be confident in the reliable and uninterrupted operation of drawbridges across the Neva and its branches.
Bridges are being cleared on schedule. But they can start the crossing even earlier than the schedule, when all the ships pass. In some cases, the second wiring can also be canceled.
For the convenience of land transport and pedestrians, St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Mostotrest has developed a unique online notification system that allows you to find out in real time whether the bridge is open or closed right now in order to build the best route around the city. This information, as well as the most accurate bridge construction schedule for the current navigation season, is available on the website of St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Mostotrest and in the Bridges of Petersburg mobile application.
The mission of the bridge is to connect, even when it is divorced!
St. Petersburg is a city of extraordinary beauty, a recognized center of tourism not only in Russia, but also in the world. The peak of tourist activity in St. Petersburg falls on the summer season. From mid-June to July in St. Petersburg begins the time of the White Nights. A truly breathtaking sight of the drawing of bridges at this time can be observed on the embankments of St. Petersburg. More than thirty rivers and canals divide the city into more than twenty parts, which are connected by bridges.
From the first days of the founding of the city in St. Petersburg, it became necessary to build bridges. Over time, the bridges of St. Petersburg turned into real masterpieces of architectural art and became the "calling card" of the city. Let's walk through some of them:
- Ioannovsky Bridge: One of the oldest bridges in the city, a direct "descendant" of the very first one, which was built almost immediately after the founding of St. Petersburg, in 1705, under Peter I.
- Anichkov Bridge: At the intersection of the "Big Perspective Road" (Nyne-Nevsky Prospekt) with the Fontanka, the construction of a bridge began under the leadership of military engineer M.O. Anichkov. And since then the bridge is still called Anichkov. The bridge is decorated with the famous sculptural group "Horse Tamers".
- Blue Bridge: It was built in 1818. It is the widest bridge in St. Petersburg. Its width is almost one hundred meters. The bridge crosses the Moika River, the waters of which paint it blue, which is why the bridge got its name.
- Alexander Nevsky Bridge: It is the longest bridge in St. Petersburg. Its length is almost a kilometer. The width of the bridge is 35 meters. The Alexander Nevsky Bridge is the end point of the main thoroughfare of the city - Nevsky Prospekt.
- Foundry Bridge: The longest movable wing in the world has the Foundry Bridge. The length of this wing is 67 meters. In the area of the bridge, the Neva has the greatest depth - 24 meters.
- Kisses Bridge: The most romantic bridge in St. Petersburg. Its name gave rise to many romantic legends in St. Petersburg. One of them says that couples in love met on the bridge, forced for some reason to meet secretly. Today it is believed that lovers who kiss on the bridge will definitely be happy. And the one who breaks up with a loved one must say goodbye to him on this bridge - then this person will definitely return.
The bridges of St. Petersburg are an integral part of its life, its history and culture. In a brief essay, it is difficult to describe all the amazing bridges of the city. In order to fully feel the atmosphere of the Northern Capital with its canals, rivers and bridges, you need to walk along the banks of the Neva, peer into the outlines of St. Petersburg. And then you will discover the true appearance of the City of Petra - an amazing and unique city
Schedule of drawing bridges in St. Petersburg in 2016
| Name of the bridge | Wiring | Breeding | Mixing |
| Volodarsky | 1 2 |
2:00 4:15 |
3:45 5:45 |
| Finnish | 1 | 2:20 | 5:30 |
| Alexander Nevsky | 1 | 2:20 | 5:10 |
| Bolsheokhtinsky | 1 | 2:00 | 5:00 |
| Casting | 1 | 1:40 | 4:45 |
| Trinity | 1 | 1:35 | 4:50 |
| Palace | 1 2 |
1:25 3.10 |
2:50 4.55 |
| Blagoveshchensky | 1 2 |
1:25 3:10 |
2:45 5:00 |
| Exchange | 1 | 2:00 | 4:55 |
| Tuchkov | 1 2 |
2:00 3:35 |
2:55 4:55 |
| Sampsonievsky, Grenadiersky, Kantemirovsky (on request) | 1 | 1:30 | 4:30 |
Compared to the previous year, the schedule for the construction of bridges on the Neva one change. After the opening of the Tuchkov Bridge, which was under reconstruction last year, the number of Birzhevoy Bridge bridges has changed (previously it duplicated the schedule of the Tuchkov Bridge) - the draw wings of this crossing will rise once a night instead of two times - from 2-00 to 4-55 in the morning . Tuchkov bridge returns to its previous mode - two wiring: from 2-00 to 2-55 and from 3-35 to 4-55.
The draw schedule for the rest of the bridges remains the same: the Blagoveshchensky, Palace and Volodarsky bridges will be drawn twice a night, and the Troitsky, Liteiny, Bolsheokhtinsky bridges and the Alexander Nevsky bridge - once. The dispensing time has also not changed.
Sampsonievsky, Grenadiersky and Kantemirovsky bridges are still being drawn up on a preliminary request two days in advance. The time of their wiring is from 1-30 to 4-30.
The current bridge drawing schedule is available on the information portal of St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "Mostotrest":https://mostotrest-spb.ru/ .
Bridge draws are carried out in accordance with the Government Decree Petersburg dated November 29, 2006 No. 1480 “On approval of the rules for the operation of bridges and embankments in St. Petersburg”, namely: from April 20 to November 15 - on the arms of the Neva, from April 10 to November 30 - on the Neva and Malaya Neva.
In 2017, during the navigation along the Neva, St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Mostotrest carried out 2356 wires bridges - by 39 wiring more than in 2016. During this time, the Neva has passed 3344 ships, including, 1704 upstream and 1640 downstream.
The leader in the number of distributions was Palace Bridge: for the entire period of navigation it was bred 421 once. In second place is Blagoveshchensky: its exponent is 420 . On the third - Volodarsky bridge: he was bred 377 once. All three crossings are the first or last (depending on the direction of movement) within the city for most ships traveling to Ladoga lake or the Gulf of Finland.
In addition, in connection with the work on escorting the bulk carrier Omsky-132 along the Neva River to a safe area in difficult ice conditions in the high alert mode, St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution Mostotrest carried out the laying out of the schedule of the Volodarsky bridge and laying out of the schedule of the Palace and Blagoveshchensky bridges on the night of November 19-20, 2016.
In preparation for the new season internavigation period 2017-2018 Specialists of St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "Mostotrest" carried out maintenance and adjustment of the entire volume of equipment on the bridges, diagnostics and revision of their mechanisms, as well as selective repair or replacement of individual units based on the results of the survey.
All bridges received LED spotlights of the drawbridge illumination system.
Also, an audit was carried out of all serviced bearings of the rotation axes of draw spans and maintenance of the bearing parts of all draw bridges, measurements of the insulation resistance of supply cables and internal cable lines were organized.
On the Volodarsky Bridge, new rod seals were installed on the wing drive hydraulic cylinders, and the pump of the draw span hydraulic drive pumping unit was replaced. On the Alexander Nevsky bridge, the hydraulic drive pumping units were repaired, on the Bolsheokhtinsky bridge, the mechanisms for controlling the supply of hydraulic drive pumping units were repaired, and on the Liteiny bridge, the hydraulic cylinder was repaired with the replacement of the rod and cover in the drive, as well as the pumping unit.
Sampsonievsky bridge received a modernized control scheme for the drawbridge. On the Kantemirovskiy Bridge on the draw span wing, two bearings of the rotation axes were replaced.
New lights for ship's passages of stationary spans have been installed on the Blagoveshchensky, Palace and Birzhevoy bridges. New LED modules of signaling systems during the inter-navigation period were placed on the Alexander Nevsky bridge, Birzhevoy, Volodarsky and Sampsonievsky bridges.
To prepare for navigation, St. Petersburg State Budgetary Institution "Mostotrest" conducted 51 bridge layouts. Most of all - 18 times - the Tuchkov Bridge was bred, which was opened after reconstruction in November last year.
