Bridge to the Future
The Zhivopisny Bridge is the most modern bridge in Moscow, and the only one suspended by cables. This bridge, finished in 2007, stands as a modern marvel. It stands now as a product of the campaign in the early 21st century to make Russia into the same realm as other modern key players. This bridge is an archetype of making use of the ample river space in Moscow, while also prioritizing the need for marketability. There is even a small globe at the joining of the cables, capitalizing on all of the space available on the bridge.
Rolf Jenni compares the Masterplan for 2020 -- what Moscow has to thank for added fixtures such as the Zhivopisny Bridge -- to the Stalinist one for 1935, and he comes to a few conclusions (1). First, the contemporary masterplan prioritizes attractions that tourists would find interesting over more practical initiatives such as housing. This is to say that this modern bridge is perhaps aiming to make Moscow stand out as a global player. Unlike the Andreyevsky Bridge transplant which focused on making modern an historically important bridge, the Zhivopisney Bridge is clearly a work of brilliance for the sake of brilliance. It was made to be superlative from the start; for instance, it's actually the tallest cable-stayed bridge in the Europe. Perhaps this superlative nature of the bridge affects its use and view by Moskovites. It would certainly liable to be seen as a spectacle of the Motherland, a source of pride, but I wonder if it runs the risk of also being seen as an intrusion, a fancy to the tourists' whims.
Clearly the bridge is no waste of space -- there are lanes for pedestrians and four for cars in either direction, making full use of the river space to which Moscow has since left rather untapped.
Zhivopisny Bridge from Igor Byrko on Vimeo.
(1) Jenni, Rolf. Learning from Moscow – planning principles of the 1935 General Plan for Reconstruction and its political relevance (http://www.raumbureau.ch/files/Learning_from_Moscow.pdf), May 2006.