The Rahmede viaduct is blown up, the explosives explode in the bridge piers, after which the viaduct sinks to the ground as planned. © Christoph Reichwein/dpa
The demolition of the dilapidated Rahmede viaduct on the A45 in North Rhine-Westphalia was cheered by thousands of spectators in Lüdenscheid on Sunday. The 17,000-tonne and up to 70-metre-high structure on the motorway, which is important throughout Germany, fell on a huge drop bed within seconds at noon. 150 kilograms of explosive charge on the bridge piers had caused them to collapse immediately before.
Lüdenscheid - After a loud bang, a dense gray-brown cloud of construction dust rose with the impact of the bridge on a huge drop bed and spread over a radius of several hundred meters.
Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) and his NRW counterpart Oliver Krischer (Greens) followed the spectacular action opposite the bridge from a slope. Many hundreds more people had come, including families with picnic provisions. Applause and shouts of "hammer" or "madness" were heard. Many felt a blast wave. At the same time, many hundreds of citizens watched the spectacle on a screen in the public viewing in the city center. Here, too, jubilation broke out, there was a party atmosphere, as one participant described.
Minutes after the blasting, small flakes of construction dust fell near the cordoned-off area. A smell like after New Year's Eve fireworks spread.
Wissing and the demolition master wanted to comment on the action and the transport policy significance for the further planning of the new building at noon. Dpa