The question of how many bridges there are in St. Petersburg arises for everyone who first gets into the city on the Neva. But to give a definite answer to this seemingly not so difficult question is not so simple. There are several reasons for this. For example, it is not clear which bridges should be considered, and which can be neglected due to their small size? And should bridges located in the famous suburbs of St. Petersburg, such as Peterhof, be included in the overall figure?
From the history of the city
As everyone is well aware, the city of St. Petersburg is located at the mouth of the Neva. Rivers flowing into the sea often break up into numerous branches and channels, forming many large and small islands throughout the channel. And besides the Neva, the city has several more full-flowing rivers, such as Okhta or Karpovka. This place can hardly be called ideal for the foundation and construction of a big city, but for the sovereign Emperor Peter the Great, it was of strategic importance. It is this circumstance that determines the large number of bridges that had to be erected throughout the city in order to ensure its integrity and functionality. The bridges of St. Petersburg were built as the settlement grew and developed, gradually spreading its development blocks to territories more and more distant from the center.
View overlooking the town
In order to understand the complexity of the answer to the question of how many bridges there are in St. Petersburg, it is enough to look at the city from a bird's eye view. At all intersections of streets with canals and ducts, it is simply impossible to do without the mentioned structures. 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 transitions across the Neva riverbed and its main branches, along which shipping routes run. These are the largest bridges, the function of which includes not only connecting opposite coasts, but also providing navigation on the Neva. And for unhindered passage of vessels along the fairway, the structure should be at a considerable height above the surface of the water. Or include an adjustable part. Most bridges on the Neva belong to this category.
The famous drawbridges of St. Petersburg
Throughout the navigable fairway on the Neva, there are thirteen movable bridge facilities. 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 lasts from late April to early November, and throughout this period both St. Petersburgers and numerous guests of the city have to check their schedule with the schedule for bridges. If you do not have time in time, then you will have to wait several hours to get to the other side. Of course, bridges are built at night. It should be noted that thirteen movable structures in the city remained after the optimization of navigation routes on the Neva. It is these bridges that are currently being built, and there are twenty-one such sites in total. There is only one non-movable bridge on the shipping lane - Bolshoy Obukhovskiy. It was built according to modern engineering technologies and has a sufficiently high height for the passage of ships of all types.
Dry statistics numbers
Perhaps the most accurate figure that answers the question of how many bridges there are in St. Petersburg will be 342. It includes objects located directly in the city and accessible to pedestrians and cars. But besides them, there is still a fair number of bridges in the territories of industrial enterprises. We should not forget about all sorts of pedestrian bridges through artificial ponds in park areas. If you take them all into account, then the figure will approach eighties! 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 cities is Bolshoy Obukhovsky, among the drawbridges - the Alexander Nevsky bridge. And the oldest bridge across 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. He has been serving the city regularly since 1850.