Bolshoy Iliynsky Bridge

Bolshoy Iliynsky Bridge (former Iliynsky Bridge, Okhtinsky Bridge No.3) is a bridge across the Okhta River in Krasnogvardeysky District. It is located in the alignment of Revolutsii Highway at the place of its connection to Iliynskaya Sloboda and joins the Grand Ilyinsky Garden with the Small Ilyinsky Garden.

The bridge was built in 1912. This is three-span reinforced concrete simple bridge. The bridge has massive stone abutments on pile foundations.

It is one of the first reinforced concrete bridges built in St. Petersburg and preserved in the original form to the present day. The bridge length is 36.5 meters, width 9.0 meters, including two sidewalks by 1.2 meters.

Originally the bridge derived name Ilyinsky from the adjacent Church of the Holy Prophet Elijah. In the 1950s the first five bridges across the Okhta River that existed at that time were numbered downstream, and the bridge was renamed the 3rd Okhtinsky Bridge. On November 6, 1997 the bridge was renamed Bolshoy Ilyinsky Bridge (the bridge located nearby across the Luppa River was named Maly Ilyinsky Bridge).

In 1950, under the project of engineer V.V. Demchenko of Dormostproekt, major repair of the bridge while preserving the original structure was performed; abutments and intermediate supports of the bridge were partially reinforced. Cobblestone pavement on the roadway was replaced by asphaltic concrete one.

In 1964 due to increased vehicular traffic on Revolutsii Highway the narrow bridge was widened by transferring of sidewalks onto the consoles. Single wooden decking is laid on the sidewalks. The sidewalk is separated from the roadway by concrete parapet. The bridge is designed for the traffic of cars and pedestrians. The bridge length is 37.9 meters, width 11.1 meters, including two sidewalks by 2.10 meters.

By the end of the 1990s there was a need for repair and reconstruction of the bridge due to the poor state of the structures and insufficient traffic capacity.

During the repair work elements of the decking were replaced; concrete slab was installed at the base of the roadway; underground utilities were constructed, concrete structures were restored; asphalt concrete pavement was laid. The bridge superstructure was leaved unchanged as waterproofing of ballast pocket made of cast asphalt remained in a satisfactory condition.

The second bridge was built upstream, a metal superstructure of which repeated the configuration of the existing bridge. On December 23, 2002 the grand opening of Italian Bridge after repair taken place.