Heavy vehicles on Germany’s north-south A1 motorway wishing to avoid Cologne will once again be able to cross the Rhine River at Leverkusen after the opening on February 4 of the first of the twin cable-stayed bridges.
Vehicles over 3.9 tonnes have been banned from the original bridge for nearly nine years after structural defects emerged.
After the new bridge was completed, a consortium including Hochtief AG and SEH Engineering GmbH. will begin demolishing the existing 59-year-old structure next to it and then build a second span twin on the site of the old bridge. When completed in 2027, the two crossings will offer 12 lanes of traffic.
Conceptually designed by Ingenieurbüro Grassl GmbH., both crossings feature central main spans 920 feet long and 110.5 feet wide supported by A-frame pylons on either side, rising nearly 200 feet above the covered The decks are made of steel box edge beams 20 feet wide by 12 feet deep joined by steel cross beams.
