The Imperial Bridge in Ulyanovsk: photo, description

The Imperial Bridge is an automobile and railroad crossing in the city of Ulyanovsk. It connects the banks of the Volga in the Kuibyshev reservoir area.

Specifications

The bridge has a beam structure with through trusses. The length of the main span is 158.5 m. The traffic of vehicles is carried out in 2 lanes. The total length of the structure is 2111 m.

The city bus routes No.30, 30E and 46 pass through the bridge, as well as bus numbers 2, 7, 72, 22, 84, 25, 78, 82, 28, 73 and 112.

History

The idea of building the bridge was announced by Minister P. Stolypin after his visit in Simfersk in 1910. The new ferry was to connect the Volga-Bugulma and the Moscow-Kazan railways. Construction began in 1913. The author of the project was NA Belelyubsky, as well as engineers AP Pshenitsky and OA A. Maddison. More than 3,500 specialists took part in construction work, mainly representatives of working professions.

The commissioning of the Imperial (Nikolayevsky) bridge in operation was delayed by two unforeseen incidents:

• July 7, 1914 there was a fire, as a result of which three farms collapsed, and the first and second were severely damaged. The reason was the imprudence of workers who dropped the red-hot riveting in a pile of rubbish. The damage amounted to 2 million rubles.
• May 29-31, 1915, there was a landslide of the Simbirsk mountain, which also made it impossible to put a new crossing into operation in accordance with a predetermined timeframe.

To restore the Imperial Bridge, it took the workers almost 18 months. Its grand opening took place on October 5, 1916.

At that moment, when the first trains passed through the bridge, he was considered to be the greatest in Europe, and he was shown with pride to foreigners. Originally, the structure was called "The Bridge of the Imperial His Majesty Nicholas II." After the October Revolution, the railroad crossing was renamed the Liberty Bridge. Evidence of eyewitnesses has been preserved, according to which workers who dismantled the plate with the old name of the structure refused to change it to a new one. Such a decision they motivated by the fact that they do not intend to perform meaningless work each time because of the often changing political situation.

The first reconstruction

After the discovery, the Ulyanovsk Bridge (Imperial) began to be intensively exploited. In this regard, by the mid-20th century, it required a reconstruction. In addition, due to the construction of the hydropower station and the Kuibyshev reservoir, the level of the shipping horizon increased by 7-8 cm. It became necessary to strengthen the supports and the transition. It was also decided to build an automobile part of the bridge, where for the period of the reconstruction of the building the railway movement was temporarily postponed. The work was carried out for several years. Only in 1958 the renovated and fortified Ulyanovsk bridge (Imperial) was opened.

The accident of the ship "Alexander Suvorov"

In the history of the bridge there were also tragic situations. In particular, the most famous of the catastrophes occurred late in the evening on June 5, 1983. At 22:45 tourist motor ship "Alexander Suvorov" collided with the sixth span of the Ulyanovsk bridge. As a result of a severe blow, the passenger ship was demolished by a log cabin, chimneys and a cinema hall. Because of the accident, the span of the railway bridge has shifted by 40 cm. At an unfortunate coincidence at the same time, a freight train weighing 3.3 thousand tons, consisting of 53 wagons laden with coal, Grain and logs. As a result of the accident, 11 of them were derailed and overturned. Part of the cargo fell and fell on the ship. As a result of the accident, 176 people died.

In memory of this tragic event and its victims on a small island under the Imperial Bridge, a mournful Orthodox cross is installed.

Reconstruction in the new century

Once again, for repairs, the bridge was closed for the period 2003-2010. The need for a new reconstruction was explained by the fatigue of the metal. The work was entrusted to the construction company "Most". She was selected by the contractor of the works following the results of the competition. Officially it was believed that the complete closure of the Imperial Bridge was not carried out. However, residents of Ulyanovsk remember that it was possible to get to the center of the city from the left bank during this period only during certain hours.

As a result of the repair work, all the pre-revolutionary structural elements of the bridge were replaced with new ones.

Repair work in the spring of 2016

The information that the Imperial Bridge will be closed, the Ulyanites became known in the middle of spring. Then it was blocked in both directions from the intersection of Dimitrovgradskoye highway with Zavodskoy proezd and to the fork in the direction of Ulyanovsk river port. In addition, the automobile movement on the descent to them was suspended. Stepan Razin.

Work was conducted intermittently from April 29 to May 9 at different hours, mainly on weekends and on public holidays, when traffic in the center of Ulyanovsk is less intense than usual.

Overhaul of the Imperial Bridge

And on August 22, 2016 the center of Ulyanovsk was closed. This decision was made by the city authorities in connection with the need to repair the pavement of the Imperial Bridge. Laying of crushed-mastic asphalt concrete was carried out.

To the citizens experienced the minimum possible inconvenience, the local media published a timetable for closing the Imperial Bridge. According to this schedule, the movement of vehicles from the center to the left bank and in the opposite direction was blocked daily from 9 pm to 5 am.

Presidential bridge

Talking about the oldest railway-car ferry across the Volga in the Ulyanovsk region, one can not fail to mention another similar object, the first stage of which was put into operation in 2009. We are talking about the Presidential Bridge, which is currently the longest in Russia and one of the longest in Europe. He improved transport services for residents of Ulyanovsk and the Volga region, and also allowed to reduce transport costs when delivering goods to Europe "Transsib". In addition, his appearance allowed to unload the Imperial Bridge and provide communication between parts of the city during the repair of the latter.

The only route of public transport, following the bridge in the regular mode, is served by bus number 10.

Now you know, in connection with which in the summer and early autumn in the press there were reports that the Imperial Bridge in Ulyanovsk will be closed for repairs. It is to be hoped that after the reconstruction it will last for a long time, without requiring frequent repairs, and the residents of the city will not experience any inconveniences connected with the change of transport routes.