The President Bridge (russian: Президентский мост) is a
truss bridge
A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...
that crosses over the
Volga
The Volga (; russian: Во́лга, a=Ru-Волга.ogg, p=ˈvoɫɡə) is the List of rivers of Europe#Rivers of Europe by length, longest river in Europe. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Cas ...
river in
Ulyanovsk Oblast
Ulyanovsk Oblast (russian: Ульяновская область, ''Ul’janovskaja oblast’'') is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It is located in the Volga Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk. Populatio ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, connecting the city of
Ulyanovsk
Ulyanovsk, known until 1924 as Simbirsk, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Population:
The city, founded as Simbirsk (), was the birthplace of Vladimir Lenin (born ...
with the east side of the city Ulyanovsk. It is the second longest bridge in Russia, and one of the
longest bridges in Europe,
with a length of , and including the connecting highway .
It has 25 spans of and weighs 4,000 tons.
The bridge's capacity is over 40,000 vehicles per day.
History
The new bridge was built as the aging
Ulyanovsk Bridge (built 1913–1916) could no longer cope with the growing traffic.
It was constructed as a part of a federal modernization program
and aimed at linking the European part of Russia with the Urals,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...
and the
Far East
The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons.
The ter ...
.
The design of the bridge began in 1980,
and the construction in 1986, originally planned to take nine years.
The first pillars were installed in 1988, and the first span in 1992.
It cost a total of 38.4 billion rubles (2008 prices).
The opening ceremony took place on 24 November 2009, and was attended by the
Russian President
The president of the Russian Federation ( rus, Президент Российской Федерации, Prezident Rossiyskoy Federatsii) is the head of state of the Russian Federation. The president leads the executive branch of the federal ...
Dmitry Medvedev
Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev ( rus, links=no, Дмитрий Анатольевич Медведев, p=ˈdmʲitrʲɪj ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ mʲɪdˈvʲedʲɪf; born 14 September 1965) is a Russian politician who has been serving as the dep ...
and
Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Heydar oghlu Aliyev ( az, İlham Heydər oğlu Əliyev, ; born 24 December 1961) is the fourth president of Azerbaijan, serving in the post since 31 October 2003.
The son and second child of the former Azerbaijani leader Heydar Aliyev, ...
,
President of Azerbaijan
The president of the Republic of Azerbaijan is the head of state of Azerbaijan. The Constitution states that the president is the embodiment of executive power, commander-in-chief, "representative of Azerbaijan in home and foreign policies", ...
.
At this stage only the first part of the bridge was opened; the lower tier of the bridge was scheduled to open in 2012.
It took more than 23 years to build the bridge;
completion was delayed significantly due to lack of funding and economic difficulties following
Russia's transition after the
collapse of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...
.
References
External links
*
{{s-end
Road bridges in Russia
Bridges completed in 2009
Buildings and structures in Ulyanovsk Oblast
Bridges across the Volga River
Transport in Ulyanovsk Oblast