The work on the replacement of the new Salzbach viaduct on Autobahn 66 near Wiesbaden is progressing much faster than expected.

The southern bridge may be open to traffic as early as autumn next year, while the northern bridge will be available for traffic as early as mid-2025 according to the current plans of the federal Autobahn GmbH.

So far, the completion of the entire bridge was only scheduled for the end of 2026.

Ralph Euler

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung, responsible for the Rhein-Main section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.

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The fact that it could be one and a half years earlier is thanks to the demolition of the old bridge last November due to the acute danger of collapsing, said Matthias Achauer, head of the bridge construction department at the Autobahn GmbH West branch, on Wednesday.

If the bridge had been gradually demolished, as originally planned, the work would have taken much longer.

The timing of the commissioning of the new Schiersteiner bridge on the 643 motorway over the Rhine is also related to the restoration of the Salzbach Viaduct.

Because the A 643 has been an important alternative route for national traffic since the Salzbach Viaduct was removed, and as long as at least the first part of the Salzbach Viaduct is not available again, there should be no unnecessary obstructions on the Schiersteiner Brücke, according to Autobahn GmbH .

"Building money is sufficiently available"

The new Schiersteiner Bridge will consist of two structures, each with three lanes;

the western of the two bridges is already under traffic with two lanes in each direction.

The eastern bridge will also be finished by the end of this year, according to a press conference at which Autobahn GmbH presented its projects for the current year.

However, a short-term full closure on the A 643 is a prerequisite for the release of this part of the Rhine crossing;

only then can the bridge be connected to the motorway network.

This closure would only last for a weekend, but even that was out of the question as long as at least half of the Salzbach Viaduct had not gone back into operation.

Consequence: The Schiersteiner Bridge, although it will be ready by the end of this year, will not be open to traffic in six lanes until autumn 2023 at the earliest.

According to Matthias Hannappel, Head of Construction and Maintenance, the West branch of Autobahn GmbH, which is responsible for the Rhine-Main region, southern Hesse and neighboring Rheinhessen, spent 340 million euros last year on the maintenance and renewal of the motorway network.

A construction volume of 400 million euros was originally announced.

According to Hannappel, this goal was missed because there had been delivery bottlenecks and because only a limited number of construction sites were possible at the same time due to the high volume of traffic in the Rhine-Main region.

With a view to the urgently needed renovation of numerous motorway bridges, Hannappel was optimistic: "Sufficient building money is available." For this year it is again 400 million euros: 190 million for Hesse, 140 million for Rhineland-Palatinate and 70 million for Saarland.