Ushakovsky Bridge (Saint Petersburg)

 moveable bridge, road bridge, listed building / architectural heritage, 1955_construction

Ushakov Bridge spans the Bolshaya Nevka River in the alignment of Kamennoostrovsky Avenue and Academician Krylov Street, it connects Kamenny Island with the Vyborg side. The crossing is 237 meters long and 27 meters wide.

The bridge is a drawbridge with an electromechanical drive, but it is not currently being divorced. It is an 11-span structure with a movable span in the middle. The draw span is a two—winged, sliding-opening system with rigidly attached counterweights. In cross section, the superstructure consists of six all-welded main beams.

Permanent river spans are covered with two—span metal continuous beams, and coastal spans are covered with three-span reinforced concrete continuous beams with decorative facade two-span arches lined with granite.

River supports are reinforced concrete, on high pile grillings, lined with granite. The railing is cast iron with an ornament in the form of an anchor, a star and a laurel wreath.

Cast-iron columns with flutes and original completion are installed at the entrances to the bridge. The composition includes bas-relief images of the Order of Admiral Ushakov on the background of banners.

In 1786, a floating Second Kamennoostrovsky Bridge was built here, which was located slightly upstream from the now existing Ushakov Bridge. Then the Second Kamennoostrovsky Bridge was renamed Stroganovsky (Stroganov) after the Stroganov dacha located nearby and was so called until 1952. On December 15, 1952, the bridge was renamed Ushakovsky.

In the 1820s, the floating bridge was replaced by an 18-span wooden bridge of pile construction. The axis of the bridge was moved to the gate of Stroganovskaya Street (now Academician Krylov). Between 1847 and 1853, it was rebuilt into a wooden multi-span drawbridge of a crossbar-strut system. It has been repeatedly repaired in wood.

In 1906-1907, the bridge was reinforced for tram loading and expanded for the passage of vehicles. In 1911, the above-water part of the bridge was completely rebuilt.

In 1935, the wooden spans of the draw span were replaced with metal riveted beams. The tenth span from the left bank was a movable two-winged opening system with a horizontal axis of rotation with an electromechanical drive.

In 1953-1955, the wooden bridge was replaced by a modern metal ferry designed by engineers of "Lengiproinzhproekt" V.V. Dyachenko, B.B. Levin, architects P.A. Areshev and V.S. Vasilkovsky. The bridge was built according to the same typical river design scheme as the Kamennoostrovsky and Svobody bridges (now Sampsonievsky). The Ushakov Bridge project uses an original engineering solution, which became known as the "invisible draw span", with unequal spans growing from the banks to the middle of the river, proportional to the thickness of the supports. On the draw span, for the first time in the practice of domestic bridge construction, instead of the traditional wooden flooring, a reinforced concrete slab with an asphalt coating was arranged.

During the construction of the Ushakov transport interchange in 1999-2000, an extension of the passage along the embankment was carried out, in connection with this, the right-bank reinforced concrete superstructure of the bridge was filled in after reinforcement. In 2000, major repairs of the road surface and tram tracks were carried out.

In July–August 2017, repairs were carried out on the Ushakov Bridge, during which the asphalt-concrete pavement of the roadway was replaced, the road markings were updated.

In 2000, after the commissioning of the new Ushakov Interchange overpass, the bridge of the same name became part of a single engineering and architectural ensemble dedicated to the victories of the Russian fleet. The interchange was created by the architectural workshop "Evgeny Gerasimov and Partners", the authors of the project are V.F. Khivrich, I.G. Bakhorina and V.S. Vasilkovsky. Naval themes are present in most of the structural elements of the structure, as well as in the decor. The dominant feature of the ensemble is the massive supports of the overpass with the completion in the form of ship cannons mounted on cantilever platforms. These cannons, as well as the decorative elements of the lamps, became the last work of the architect V.S. Vasilkovsky, who designed the Ushakov Bridge in the early 1950s.

en.mostotrest-spb.ru/bridges/ushakovskij