The question of how many bridges in St. Petersburg,arises in everyone who first enters the city on the Neva. But to give an unambiguous answer to this, it seems, is not such a complicated question, it is not so simple. There are several reasons for this. For example, it is unclear what bridges should be taken into account, and what can be neglected due to their small size? And should the bridges located in the famous suburbs of St. Petersburg, such as Peterhof, be included in the total figure?
As everyone is well aware, the city of St. Petersburglocated in the mouth of the Neva. When entering the sea, rivers often split into numerous branches and channels, forming many large and small islands throughout the riverbed. And besides the Neva, in the city there are several more full-flowing rivers, such as Okhta or Karpovka. This place is hardly ideal for the foundation and construction of a large city, but for the Emperor Peter the Great it was strategically important. It is this circumstance that accounts for the large number of bridges that had to be built throughout the city in order to ensure its integrity and functionality. Peter's bridges were built as the settlement grew and developed, gradually spreading the quarters of its development to increasingly remote from the center of the territory.
In order to understand the complexity of the answer to the questionabout how many bridges there are in St. Petersburg, it's enough to look at the city from a bird's eye view. At all intersections of streets with canals and ducts without the mentioned structures it is simply impossible to manage. But we should not forget that the Neva River has always been the most important shipping line. And the map of the bridges of St. Petersburg usually implies a system of passage through the channel of the Neva and its main branches, along which navigable routes lie. These are the largest bridges, the function of which is not only to connect the opposite banks, but also to ensure navigation on the Neva. And for unimpeded passage of vessels along the fairway, the structure must be at a considerable height above the surface of the water. Or include a diverting part. Most of the bridges on the Neva are in this category.
Throughout the navigable channel on the Nevathere are thirteen drawbridge bridges. If the question of how many bridges in St. Petersburg is still considered debatable, then the most significant structures of this nature are much easier to count. They are of key importance in the transport infrastructure of the northern capital. Navigation on the Neva River lasts from the end of April to the beginning of November, and all this period and Petrograd, and numerous guests of the city have to compare their schedule with the schedule of bridging. If you do not have time on time, then the possibility to get to the other bank will have to wait several hours. Of course, bridges are planted at night. It should be noted that thirteen divorce structures in the city remained after the optimization of navigation routes on the Neva. It is these bridges that are currently being bred, and all such objects are twenty-one. On the navigable route there is only one non-movable bridge - Bolshoy Obukhovskiy. It is built according to modern engineering technologies and has a sufficiently high altitude for the passage of vessels of all types.
Perhaps the most accurate figure responding tothe question of how many bridges there are in St. Petersburg will be 342. It includes objects located directly in the city line and accessible to both pedestrians and cars. But apart from them there is still a fair number of bridges in the territories of industrial enterprises. Do not forget about various pedestrian bridges through artificial reservoirs in the park areas. If you consider them all, then the figure will come close to eight hundred! Many bridges are located in the historical suburbs of St. Petersburg. In Peterhof - 51, in Pavlovsk - 16, in Pushkin - 54, in Kronstadt - 5, in Lomonosov - 7. The longest among the city is Bolshoi Obukhovsky, among the drawbridge - the Alexander Nevsky Bridge. And the oldest bridge over the Neva can be called the Annunciation. At the opening, it was called Nikolaevsky, and in the Soviet period of history - the bridge of Lieutenant Schmidt. It has served the city regularly since 1850.
