Krymsky Bridge or Crimean Bridge is a steel suspension bridge

Suspension bridge

A suspension bridge is a type of bridge in which the deck is hung below suspension cables on vertical suspenders. Outside Tibet and Bhutan, where the first examples of this type of bridge were built in the 15th century, this type of bridge dates from the early 19th century...

 in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

. The bridge spans the Moskva River

Moskva River

The Moskva River is a river that flows through the Moscow and Smolensk Oblasts in Russia, and is a tributary of the Oka River.-Etymology:...

 1,800 metres south-west from the Kremlin and carries the Garden Ring

Garden Ring

The Garden Ring, also known as the "B" Ring , is a circular avenue around the central Moscow, its course corresponding to what used to be the city ramparts surrounding Zemlyanoy Gorod in the 17th century....

 across the river. The bridge links the Crimean Square to the north with Krymsky Val street to the south. The nearby Moscow Metro

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...

 stations are Park Kultury

Park Kultury-Radialnaya

Park Kultury is a Moscow Metro station in the Khamovniki District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Sokolnicheskaya Line, between Frunzenskaya and Kropotkinskaya stations...

 and Oktyabrskaya

Oktyabrskaya-Radialnaya

Oktyabrskaya is a Moscow Metro station in the Yakimanka District, Central Administrative Okrug, Moscow. It is on the Kaluzhsko-Rizhskaya Line, between Shabolovskaya and Tretyakovskaya stations. Oktyabrskaya opened on 13 October 1962 and was originally the northern terminus of the Kaluzhskaya Line...

.

The existing bridge was completed on May 1, 1938, as part of Stalin's ambitious reconstruction of downtown Moscow. Designed by engineer V. P. Konstantinov and architect A. V. Vlasov, it is the fourth bridge on this site and the only suspension bridge in all of Moscow.

History

The first pontoon

Pontoon bridge

A pontoon bridge or floating bridge is a bridge that floats on water and in which barge- or boat-like pontoons support the bridge deck and its dynamic loads. While pontoon bridges are usually temporary structures, some are used for long periods of time...

 Krymsky Bridge was built in wood in 1786. Subsequently, it was rebuilt as a fixed wooden causeway with a 15-metre central span for barges. Both wooden bridges were frequently damaged by ice and floods, and had to be repaired on numerous occasions..

The first steel bridge, built in 1873 by Amand Struve

Amand Struve

Amand Struve was a Baltic German engineer who worked in Kiev, Russian Empire . He is not known much outside of Kiev, and mostly to specialists....

 to a design by V. K. Speyer, featured two 64-meter truss boxes, supported by the central pillar. Traffic moved inside the truss, which was congested and unsafe. Tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

 companies issued a rule that only one tram can be on a bridge at a time, to prevent traffic deadlocks.

During Stalin's reconstruction of Moscow, every bridge in the downtown was either rebuilt or scheduled for demolition. The Crimean Bridge was slated to be replaced in 1935. The old bridge had to operate until the substitute was completed, because the Soviet capital could not afford interruption of service along the Garden Ring. Between 21 May and 26 May 1936, the old bridge was moved fifty meters from its site on temporary pillars. For the first time in Soviet history a 4000-ton, 128-meter structure was relocated successfully. The old bridge was in operation until the new bridge was completed on May 1, 1938.

Modern bridge

The bridge's total length with approach ramps is 668 metres (bridge itself 262.5 metres, spans 47.25 + 168.0 + 47.25 metres). Its full width 38.4 metres, including a 24 metre road (6 lanes) and two 5-metre pedestrian lanes.

The eyebar

Eyebar

In structural engineering and construction, an eyebar is a straight bar, usually of metal, with a hole at each end for fixing to other components...

 chains are made of ODS steel (ОДС, Palace of Soviets

Palace of Soviets

The Palace of the Soviets was a project to construct an administrative center and a congress hall in Moscow, Russia, near the Kremlin, on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour...

 Ordinary) rolled by NKMZ works

Novokramatorsky Mashinostroitelny Zavod

Novokramatorsky Mashynobudivny Zavod is a large heavy equipment manufacturer in Ukraine. Its abbreviation is NKMZ. The company produces mining equipment; metallurgy equipment; rolling mills, forges, blast furnaces, ore crushers, presses, and other industrial process equipment...

, each link consisting of 4 centimetre thick, 93 centimetre wide strips. Chains are carrying two girders (each over 300 metres long), their ends anchored to massive concrete counterweights. Girders are crossed with 50-centimetre I-beams, spaced by 1.6 metres; these beams are covered with a concrete deck.

The bridge was represented on Soviet postage stamps twice – in March, 1939 and December, 1948. Visually unique (at least, in Moscow), Krymsky Bridge is one of the least effective in terms of material costs. It consumed nearly 10,000 tons of steel, or 1 metric ton per square metre of deck (itself having a very low ratio of area usage, 24 to 38.4).

The bridge deck was replaced in 2001. During repairs, traffic was restricted, but never closed completely.