Tuchkov Bridge () is a

bascule bridge A bascule bridge (also referred to as a drawbridge or a lifting bridge) is a moveable bridge with a counterweight that continuously balances a span, or leaf, throughout its upward swing to provide clearance for boat traffic. It may be single- o ...

across Little Neva (a

distributary A distributary, or a distributary channel is a stream channel that branches off and flows a main stream channel. It is the opposite of a ''tributary'', a stream that flows another stream or river. Distributaries are a result of river bifurc ...

Neva river The Neva ( , ; , ) is a river in northwestern Russia flowing from Lake Ladoga through the western part of Leningrad Oblast (historical region of Ingria) to the Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finland. Despite its modest length of , it is the fourth-l ...

) in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Its length is 226 meters and its width is 36 meters. Tuchkov bridge connects

Vasilievsky Island Vasilyevsky Island (, Vasilyevsky Ostrov, V.O.) is an island in St. Petersburg, Russia, bordered by the Bolshaya Neva and Malaya Neva Rivers (in the delta of the Neva River) in the south and northeast, and by Neva Bay of the Gulf of Finl ...

and

Petrogradsky Island Petrogradsky Island or Petrograd Island (Russian: Петроградский остров) is the third-largest island in the Neva River delta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Along with Zayachy Island, Aptekarsky Island, and Petrovsky Island, it c ...

History and present state

The original bridge was built in 1758 in wood. It got its name after local businessman Avraam Tuchkov who financed its construction and who had warehouses nearby. The bridge has been reconstructed several times. Last time it was reconstructed in 1962-1965. Modern Tuchkov bridge has three spans, the middle one being a draw span. Unlike older bridges in St. Petersburg, the design of Tuchkov bridge lacks permanent decorations. In 2010s it is yearly decorated with electric lights to be seen from Birzhevoy Bridge for winter season.

Tram service

In the early years of 21st century this bridge was left as the only

tram service A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

link leading from Vassilievskiy Island. The remaining service (Routes 6 and 40) takes passengers from the island, relieving its rush-hour-crowded Vassileostrosvskaya metro station via much less busy Sportivnaya metro station and, again, busy Gorkovskaya metro station on the main island of Petrogradskiy District, to Vyborgskiy District in the north bank of the Neva. All other tram lines over bridges from Vassilievskiy Island have been removed together with severe reduction in the number of tram routes still popular especially with lower-income population groups, and even the other line from Tuchkov Bridge branching off to Chkalovskiy Prospect (left turn from the bridge) was closed. There may be observed certain tensions between the growing number of car owners and underprivileged users of public transportations. There used to be about a dozen tram routes in and out of Vassilievskiy Island before the reduction in 1990s, while even the renovated to be quieter the Sredniy Prospect tram line (virtually the only one remaining in the island) was nearly permanently closed soon after renovation.

In culture

Arkady Svidrigailov, the character from

Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky. () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. He is regarded as one of the greatest novelists in both Russian and world literature, and many of his works are considered highly influenti ...

's novel ''

Crime and Punishment ''Crime and Punishment'' is a novel by the Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky. It was first published in the literary journal '' The Russian Messenger'' in twelve monthly installments during 1866.

'', spends the last night of his life looking into water of Little Neva from Tuchkov bridge.

Anastasiya Chebotarevskaya Anastasiya is a feminine given name. Notable people with that name include the following: Sports Athletics * Anastasiya Ilyina (born 1982), Russian triple jumper and long jumper * Anastasiya Juravleva (born 1981), Uzbekistani triple jumper and lon ...

, a writer and the wife of a

decadent Decadence was a late-19th-century movement emphasizing the need for sensationalism, egocentricity, and bizarre, artificial, perverse, and exotic sensations and experiences. By extension, it may refer to a decline in art, literature, science, ...

early XXc "

Silver Age of Russian Poetry Silver Age (Сере́бряный век) is a term traditionally applied by Russian philologists to the last decade of the 19th century and first two or three decades of the 20th century. It was an exceptionally creative period in the history o ...

" poet

Fyodor Sologub Fyodor Sologub (, born Fyodor Kuzmich Teternikov, , also known as Theodor Sologub; – 5 December 1927) was a Russian Symbolist poet, novelist, translator, playwright and essayist. He was the first writer to introduce the morbid, pessimistic e ...

, who lived not far away on the embankment of

Zhdanovka The Zhdanovka () is a short river in the Neva river delta in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It separates Petrogradsky Island from Petrovsky Island. History In the 17th century, the river did not have a specific name; however, it was sometimes refe ...

river, killed herself by jumping from the bridge.

Future plans

The bridge, subject to daily traffic congestions as a major city north-south link, may be closed for another set of cardinal renovation. This can be expected after the finishing of supposed repairs to

Palace Bridge Palace Bridge (, ''Dvortsoviy Most''), a road- and foot-traffic bascule bridge, spans the Neva River in Saint Petersburg between Palace Square and Vasilievsky Island. Like every other Neva bridge (except for Big Obukhovsky Bridge), it is dr ...

and completion of Western Fast Diameter highway. A closing of the bridge is also planned for the time of repeatedly put off building of a

travelator A moving walkway – also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, travolator, or travelator – is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane, over a short to medium distance. T ...

tunnel as a connection, in parallel to the bridge, between the existing underground-only

Sportivnaya (Saint Petersburg Metro) Sportivnaya () (literally - Sportage) is a station on the Frunzensko-Primorskaya Line of the Saint Petersburg Metro. The station was designed by Alexander Konstantinov, Alexander Bystrov and Andrey Larionov. It opened on 15 September 1997 as ...

station on the south bank of Little Neva and the station's possible northern exit to

Admiral Makarov Embankment Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of th ...

on Vasilievskiy Island to give easier metro access to the people living and/or working on the island who have problems with that during rush hour at the Island's Vasileostrovskaya - the only station in its western part with its many businesses and colleges, as well as housing.

References

Tuchkov Bridge
{{Little Neva Bridges Bridges in Saint Petersburg Bridges completed in 1758

History and present state

Tram service

In culture

Future plans

See also

References