Big Ustyinsky Bridge

The Big Ustinsky Bridge is a bridge across the Moscow River at the intersection of the Moscow River with the Boulevard Ring , at the confluence of the Yauza River (hence the name). It connects Yauzsky Boulevard with Sadovnichesky Passage , which crosses the Vodootvodny Canal along the Commissariat Bridge . Built in 1938 (engineer V. M. Vakhurkin, architects G. P. Golts and D. M. Sobolev) near the arch bridge of the same name, built in 1881.

Big Ustyinsky Bridge
Big and Small Ustyinsky bridges
Application area	car, tram, pedestrian
Crosses	Moscow (river)
Location	Moscow
Design
Type of construction	steel, single-span, arched
Material
Main span	134 m
Bridge width	40.0 m
Exploitation
Opening	May 1938

Big Ustyinsky Bridge, 1881

The first Bolshoy Ustyinsky bridge was built in 1881 according to the three-span arched scheme adopted in Moscow by engineer V.N. Speyer (the span formula is 39.5 + 44.5 + 39.5 m, width is 19.2 m), directly below the then mouth of the Yauza River . Until that time, there were no permanent or temporary bridges at this place.

Stone bulls equipped with ice cutters were placed on the banks. The bridge itself was a metal structure. Special rails were installed for the horse tram , later replaced by tram rails. A bustling market was organized near the bridge. ^[one]

The existing bridge was built in 1938, slightly upstream, as part of the reconstruction of Moscow embankments in connection with the launch of the Moscow Canal and the proposed extension of the Boulevard Ring in Zamoskvorechye , which was originally planned by the plans of the New Moscow and the Big Moscow and fixed in the General Plan reconstruction of Moscow ^[2] . Planned construction of the tower-lighthouse, but it was canceled. At the same time, the channel of Yauza was changed, and now it flows into the Moscow River below the Bolshoi Ustyinsky Bridge (an eight-lane road fits between the bridge and Yauza). The old bridge had sufficient reserve capacity (and to this day the Ustyinsky bridge is the least loaded of all the bridges in the city center), but crossing the roadway with the embankments at the same level was unacceptable. At the same time, the Small Ustyinsky Bridge was built over the Yauza River , and a little later - the Yauza Bridge .

The peculiarity of the Ustyinsky bridge is the absence of visible (elevated) coastal foundations. Two underground abutments take up the load - flat foundations of 31.2 * 40 m in size. Considering the foundations of coastal spans, which are 52.0 m from the toes of the arches and the spacer plates connecting them, the total size of each of the two bases is 58.3 × 40.0 m.

In the main span there are six riveted arches of VTS steel (Special, Palace of Soviets ), with a section of 2.1 × 1.0 m. The weight of the arches is 2235 tons, the deflection arrow is 8.95 m with a span of 134.0 m. The base plate and the roadway are extended over the embankments in the form of a continuous construction. The upper structure is an orthotropic steel plate with channel-ribs.

In 1997-1999 the bridge was reconstructed according to the project of JSC Giprotransmost (the contractor is the Italian firm Todini), the work was carried out mainly on the credit line of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development . All the upper structure was replaced by an orthotropic plate of modern design. The bearing base of the bridge is saved.