Exchange Bridge (Birzhevoy bridge) (Saint Petersburg)

 moveable bridge, road bridge, UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1960_construction

The Exchange Bridge across the Malaya Neva connects Vasilievsky Island with the Petrograd side.

This is a five-span metal bridge of a sliding-opening system with a draw span in the middle. The draw span is a metal all—welded two-wing with a fixed axis of rotation. The counterweights are fixed on hinges. The Exchange Bridge is being built using an electromechanical drive. This is one of the few drawbridges in St. Petersburg, where a similar mechanism has remained, most of the bridges have already switched to a modern hydraulic system. The control panel is located in the left bank support of the draw span.

The draw mechanism of the Exchange Bridge has no analogues in the world: at the beginning of the wiring, the bridge opens by 15 centimeters, and the wings roll away from each other. The center of gravity of the wing changes, which greatly facilitates wiring.

The abutments of the bridge are massive reinforced concrete on a pile foundation, lined with pink granite.

The tridents of the ancient Roman god Neptune are depicted on the cast-iron railings of the railing. They emphasize the status of St. Petersburg as the maritime capital of Russia.

The arrow of Vasilievsky Island, where the Neva is divided into two parts — Large and Small, has been used since the time of Peter I as a Commercial port pier. Later, the Trading port moved from the Kronverkskaya Bayou to the mouth of the Malaya Neva. While there was a commercial port on Strelka, floating bridges on the Malaya Neva were not built for a long time — they interfered with the movement of ships.

Only in 1894, according to the project of engineer Nikolai Mazurov, a wooden 25-span bridge was built across the Malaya Neva. The crossing was opened on March 27 (April 9, new style), 1894. The length of the bridge was 326 meters, width — 21 meters. In the middle of the bridge, a double-winged draw span was arranged for the passage of ships. The bridge was built with the help of hand winches.

The route of the bridge passed upstream, along the axis of Zoological Lane.

In 1917, the bridge was overhauled. For more than 30 years it remained wooden, from time to time it was repaired in wood. In 1930, during the next overhaul, the wooden frames of the draw span were replaced with metal ones. Manual winches were replaced by electric mechanisms at the same time.

In October 1918, the Exchange Bridge was renamed the Builders' Bridge.

After the war, in 1947, the bridge was rebuilt. Permanent superstructures became metal, the width decreased from 21 to 18 meters. The supports and the roadway remained wooden.

Automobile traffic on the Builders' Bridge grew, and the wooden parts quickly rotted away. In addition, in the spring of 1957, the supports were severely damaged by an ice drift. It was necessary to build a new metal bridge as soon as possible.

The bridge project was developed back in 1940, but then the war prevented its implementation. Finally, in 1960, according to the project of Lev Noskov and Peter Areshev, a new bridge of Builders was built. The axis of the bridge was moved 70 meters downstream of the Malaya Neva.

During the reconstruction in 1960, the length of the bridge was reduced, and the width, on the contrary, increased. The parameters of the new Exchange Bridge are as close as possible to the parameters of the Palace Bridge. Now both have 5 spans and almost the same width of river bulls. Thus, the Arrow of Vasilievsky Island received its symmetrical completion.

During the reconstruction of the Exchange Bridge, the layout of all adjacent territories was updated, both from the Petrograd side and from Vasilyevsky Island. The appearance of the Makarov Embankment has changed — the mooring wall, which has existed since the days of the Commercial Port, has been rebuilt. On the Petrograd side, at the entrance to the bridge, a small shallow bay was filled in, a bridge square was created, which has been named after academician D.S. Likhachev since 2006.

In 1989, the historical name was returned to the Exchange Bridge.

In 1997, the tram rails were removed from the bridge.

In 2014, a modern night illumination was created on the Exchange Bridge.

Since October 9, 2021, major repairs have been carried out on the Exchange Bridge. Traffic on the updated ferry was opened on November 30, 2022, and all work is scheduled to be completed in May 2023.

The Exchange Bridge can be seen in many films about St. Petersburg. For example, in "The Incredible Adventures of Italians in Russia", a motor ship passes under the bridge — then still Builders — and, according to the script, the character of actor Andrei Mironov hung on the wing of the bridge. It is this bridge that is often shown in movies when the action of the film takes place on the Palace Bridge : they are very similar, but it is much easier to block traffic on the Exchange Bridge during filming.

The bridge offers the most impressive panorama of the Neva River, the Palace Embankment and the Peter and Paul Fortress. This is one of the most beautiful views in Northern Venice.

en.mostotrest-spb.ru/bridges/birzhevoj