Upper Volga Floodgate, Water management structure in Selizharovsky District, Russia

The Upper Volga Floodgate is a concrete spillway dam with six spans and earthen embankments, 46 m long, 16.1 m wide and up to 9.5 m high, standing 5 km below the point where the Volga leaves Lake Volgo. Its gates hold back the Verkhnevolzhskoye Reservoir, which joins Lakes Volgo, Peno, Vselug and Sterzh into one basin.

Built in 1843 for the Vyshnevolotsk water system, the dam was originally a timber structure on a stone foundation, with five sluices of 8.5 m spanned by wooden shields. Its releases improved navigation from Rzhev to Nizhny Novgorod. Red Army units blew it up in 1941; in 1943 it was rebuilt in concrete and raised by one metre, and a memorial stele stands beside it.

The name beyshlot comes from the Dutch bijsloot, "roadside ditch", a borrowing from the engineers who built the Vyshnevolotsk water system. A memorial stele stands by the dam, erected when it was rebuilt in concrete in 1943 with the crest raised one metre. The reservoir it created merged lakes Volgo, Peno, Vselug and Sterzh into one basin.

The dam stands 5 km downstream of where the Volga leaves Lake Volgo, near the settlement of Verkhnevolzhsky Beishlot. The crest is 29.8 m long and 16.1 m wide, with a maximum head of 7 m; the upper pool level swings up to 4.5 m over the year. A memorial stele stands beside the structure.

The name comes from the Dutch bijsloot, "roadside ditch". The 1843 timber dam on a stone foundation had five spans of 8.5 m closed by wooden shields, with a sill depth of 5.3 m. Red Army units blew it up in 1941; the concrete dam of 1943 raised the level by one metre, and a memorial stele stands beside it.