In order to be able to have a better view of the huge High Moselle bridge and the Moselle valley in the future, a viewing plateau is being built above Zeltingen-Rachtig.

A 150-meter-long boomerang-shaped observation deck and a roughly 600-meter-long steel walkway near the ground are planned, according to the Rhineland-Palatinate State Office for Mobility (LBM) in Koblenz.

Construction should start this summer.

It is assumed that the entire jetty will be completed in the course of 2023, said a spokeswoman.

The LBM announced that work on an associated parking lot should be completed this year.

This was actually planned for 2021, but due to the corona pandemic there were repeated bottlenecks in material and personnel.

The costs for the parking lot and viewing platforms are estimated at around seven million euros, which the federal government will assume.

The 1.7 kilometer long and up to 160 meter high bridge over the Moselle was opened to traffic in November 2019.

It is the second highest bridge in Germany after the Kochertal Bridge (maximum 185 meters) in Baden-Württemberg.

It is part of a newly built, approximately 28-kilometer-long "High Moselle Crossing" section that connects the Wittlich motorway junction in the Eifel with the old B50 near Longkamp in the Hunsrück.

It is not yet clear what the entire project ultimately cost.

Most recently, the expected costs were given as 483 million euros.

According to the LBM, "not all contracts at the Hochmosel crossing have been settled yet", so that no precise information on the final construction costs can be given.

Around 473 million euros have been spent on the overall project so far.

A traffic forecast from 2009 assumed a good 25,000 vehicles a day on the High Moselle Bridge by 2025.

A traffic census in autumn 2020 counted an average of 12,600 vehicles per day, including 2,000 trucks.

The results of another traffic census from April to October 2021 are to be published in September, the LBM announced.

The High Moselle crossing creates a direct road connection between the Rhine-Main area and the North Sea ports in Belgium and the Netherlands.

The bridge was controversial to the last.