Work has started on the replacement for a historic bridge that was lost to floods in the south west German town of Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler during 2021.
The design for the Heppingen Bridge by schlaich bergermann partner (sbp) has features that will maximise the river Ahr’s flow volume in the event of a flood. It is a single-span hollow steel box girder with no supports, being anchored in the abutments. The abutments themselves have an open design, which is intended to increase the flow volume. This ensures the project meets requirements for adapted flood protection in the Ahr valley, which lost more than 100 bridges in the 2021 flood.
The crossing will be open to pedestrians, cyclists and motor traffic towards the end of autumn 2025.
We covered this replacement bridge project in more detail in our recent Resilience supplement.