NPS Installs 80% of Bascule System Equipment on the Bolshoy Smolensky Bridge
Specialists from DiM (a subsidiary of Natsproektstroy) have installed 80% of the bascule system equipment on the fifth and sixth supports of the Bolshoy Smolensky Bridge, with startup and adjustment work still in progress.
31 August 2026
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In addition, roughly 40 km of cables has been laid, including 10 km via an underwater crossing on the Neva riverbed.
The bridge's "heart" is located in the central compartments at the fifth and sixth support. These house all the pumping stations that power the hydraulic cylinders used for raising and lowering the bridge's leaves. The supports also contain the rooms for the control system equipment, which collect data from sensors and send commands to the hydraulic system actuators.
On the upper floor of the fifth support, a control panel for the bridge is being installed. This will be the place where a mechanic will monitor the opening and closing operations. To guarantee reliable performance under any conditions, three independent control loops for the bascule span have been designed: primary, backup, and emergency. Each operates as a self‑contained closed‑loop system, independent of the others.
The major part of the bascule system is composed of domestically produced mechanisms and materials, many of which were supplied by St. Petersburg manufacturers. The bridge's information and control systems is built on Russian-developed software.
The Bolshoy Smolensky Bridge will be the first bascule crossing over the Neva and its main channels to be built since the Kantemirovsky Bridge opened in 1982. Operational traffic is scheduled to start in 2027.
The bridge's "heart" is located in the central compartments at the fifth and sixth support. These house all the pumping stations that power the hydraulic cylinders used for raising and lowering the bridge's leaves. The supports also contain the rooms for the control system equipment, which collect data from sensors and send commands to the hydraulic system actuators.
On the upper floor of the fifth support, a control panel for the bridge is being installed. This will be the place where a mechanic will monitor the opening and closing operations. To guarantee reliable performance under any conditions, three independent control loops for the bascule span have been designed: primary, backup, and emergency. Each operates as a self‑contained closed‑loop system, independent of the others.
The major part of the bascule system is composed of domestically produced mechanisms and materials, many of which were supplied by St. Petersburg manufacturers. The bridge's information and control systems is built on Russian-developed software.
The Bolshoy Smolensky Bridge will be the first bascule crossing over the Neva and its main channels to be built since the Kantemirovsky Bridge opened in 1982. Operational traffic is scheduled to start in 2027.
