The closure of the Salzbachtalbrücke near Wiesbaden led to traffic obstructions on Saturday: traffic is jammed in front of the diversions from the A66, said a police spokesman in Frankfurt.

On Saturday lunchtime, the traffic jam before the diversion in the direction of Frankfurt was about three kilometers long.

He expected that in rush hour traffic from Monday - if the bridge remained tight - there could be traffic chaos.

For security reasons, the bridge must remain closed until further notice, said the spokesman for the federal autobahn GmbH on Saturday in Wiesbaden.

One is on site for investigations and a briefing.

In the superstructure and pillars of the southern half of the bridge, "clearly visible cracks" were discovered.

In addition, there were "lost concrete parts" there.

The bridge was then completely closed on Friday.

Effects on rail traffic

That means: Both the A66 (Wiesbaden-Frankfurt) and the B263 running under the bridge are blocked in both directions. In addition, rail traffic from Wiesbaden main station is restricted - because the tracks run under the bridge. The A66 is the main artery between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. It is also used by many day trippers who are on their way to the Rheingau. On average, around 80,000 vehicles drive over the bridge every day.

The police in Mainz also expected greater effects on traffic from Monday.

It is expected that many working people will then not drive over the Schiersteiner Bridge to Frankfurt, but increasingly over the Weisenau Bridge.

Rail traffic is currently blocked between Wiesbaden Central Station and Wiesbaden-Ost.

The S-Bahn from Mainz now lead to Wiesbaden-Ost and then on to Frankfurt.

"By and large, the trains are rolling between Mainz and Frankfurt." But there will certainly be further disabilities on Monday, said the police spokesman.

The Rhein-Main-Verkehrsverbund (RMV) announced that the “Wiesbaden Hauptbahnhof” stop would be canceled and that individual lines ended in “Wiesbaden Ost”.

Lines RE9, RB10, RB75, S1, S8 and S9 are affected.

Experts from the west branch of Autobahn GmbH are on site with appraisers "in order to clarify the exact damage pattern, the causes of the damage and the resulting consequences as quickly as possible". The northern half of the bridge is also being checked. Neither a “timely technical solution” nor a lifting of the blockages are in sight.