Petersburg Embankment

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The dam connects the island of Kotlin with the mainland on both sides

The Saint Petersburg Dam ( Russian Комплекс защитных сооружений Санкт-Петербурга от наводнений , complex saschtschitnych sooruscheni St. Peterburga ot nawodneni ) is a flood control dam across the Neva Bay , was built around the Russian city of Saint Petersburg to protect against flooding. It leads from Malaja Ishora (Малая Ижора) in the south across the western part of the island of Kotlin , on which the city of Kronstadt is located, to Sestrorezk (Сестрорецк) in the north . A motorway runs over the structure as part of the motorway ring around St. Petersburg .

The dam system seen from the north (near Sestrorezk), view of the north gates, 2005

background

In contrast to most of the floods caused by rivers, the floods on the Neva do not result from the fact that the river brings more water with it from its upper reaches, but rather from storm floods in which westerly winds press into the Gulf of Finland and prevent or flow into the Neva extreme cases whose direction of flow reverses. Since the city was founded in 1703, 297 floods have been registered, including three with a rise in the water level of more than three meters. The largest flood occurred in 1824. The protective dam through the Gulf of Finland planned by Engineer Basen (Пётр Петрович Базен) was not considered feasible at the time.

Planning and construction

Further projects for flood protection of the city were later developed, including a western variant roughly on the route of the current protective dam and an eastern variant along the western bank of the city. The western variant was developed in the 1960s by the State Hydrological Institute of Leningrad under NE Kondratjew.

In 1979, work began on backfilling the dam according to the western variant. In December 1984 the island of Kotlin was connected to the mainland from the north. The construction was canceled in the 1990s for reasons of environmental protection: the dam disrupted the circulation of the coastal water, large parts of the water stood still, and the water quality sank considerably. There were fears that the entire bay could turn into a swamp. Due to these concerns on the one hand and the urgently required flood protection on the other, the project was very controversial in the city.

Storm surge barrier at the ship passage (northern half of the gate; still under construction: as of August 2009)
Gate passage in September 2010

The further construction of the structure, which was around 60% completed by then, began in 2006. The project consisted of nine construction phases (lots):

  • А1: Concrete work on the water passage В-1;
  • A2: dam Д-3;
  • А3: ship passage С-1, the tunnel below and part of the dam Д-4;
  • А4: ship passage С-2, including road bridge;
  • А5: electromechanical work on all structures;
  • А6: completion of water passage В-2 with parts of dams Д-1 and Д-2;
  • А7: excavation works;
  • А8: completion of dams Д-4 - Д-11;
  • А9: completion of water passages В-3 - В-6.

In August 2011, the 25-kilometer-long and nearly three billion euro protective wall was officially inaugurated off St. Petersburg after it had already been put into operation in 2010.

Individual evidence

  1. a b c d e Mega-dam is supposed to protect St. Petersburg from flooding. Spiegel Online , August 13, 2011, accessed August 15, 2011
  2. ^ Controversial dike system at the Neva estuary near Petersburg is ready. Schwäbisches Tagblatt , August 13, 2011, accessed on August 15, 2011

literature

  • Susanne Luber, Peter Rostankowski: Flood protection for Leningrad. In: Eastern Europe. Journal for contemporary issues in the East. Vol. 30 (1980), No. 1, pp. 58-63.

Web links

Commons : Petersburg Dam  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 59 ° 59 ′ 32 "  N , 29 ° 41 ′ 46"  E