Let's continue our journey through St. Petersburg. We will rise above the current of the Neva River leaving the Trinity Bridge behind. We will see another drawbridge across the Neva - this is the Foundry Bridge. This bridge connects the central part of St. Petersburg with the Vyborg side of the city. The bridge is the second permanent bridge after Blagoveshchensky in St. Petersburg. The foundry bridge is built through the deepest place in the river Neva (in this place the depth of the river is 24 meters).
Even before the founding of St. Petersburg on the site of this bridge, there was a ferry on the way from Russia to Sweden. On the one hand, the road from Veliky Novgorod ended, and on the other, the road to Vyborg began.
In 1786, the second in the city floating bridge was built on this site. But in 1803 this floating bridge was moved to the Summer Garden, and in this place a new floating bridge was built, which existed until 1875.
In 1875, the construction of a permanent bridge began on this site, since in 1869 a floating bridge was demolished by an ice stream.
The commission for the development of the project in 1874 included a well-known military engineer, a specialist in bridge construction Amand Yegorovich Struve. The City Duma concluded a contract with Struve for the construction of an arch bridge in four years. The bridge was laid in late August 1875. Since the depth in this place reached 24 meters, the builders were faced with big problems when erecting the bridge's supports. During the whole construction, dozens of workers were killed and drowned because of accidents and underwater works. The cost of the construction itself has doubled.
The bridge was opened in late September 1879 with a delay of only one month in time. At the opening of the bridge, the engineer-architect Struve was awarded the rank of Major-General, and the engineers Vratnovsky, Bator, Mazing and Albert were encouraged.
In 1966 - 1967 there was a serious reconstruction of the bridge. The bridge itself was expanded, traffic junctions were brought in, the turning section of the bridge was replaced by a rising one and moved to the deepest place, new lanterns were installed, and many other works were carried out to improve the bridge.
Today it is the third most important bridge in the center of St. Petersburg. The casting bridge consists of six spans. The length of the bridge is 394 meters. The width of the bridge is 34 meters. The width of the carriageway is 28 meters. Two sidewalks of 3 meters each.
We got acquainted with one more architectural structure of St. Petersburg. Thank you for your attention. See you on the streets of our city soon.