Bridge at Westervoort
Coordinates: 51 ° 58 ′ 9 ″ N , 5 ° 57 ′ 31 ″ E
| Bridge at Westervoort | ||
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| Convicted | Oberhausen – Arnhem railway line , Zevenaarseweg, cycle path | |
| Subjugated | IJssel | |
| place | between Arnhem and Westervoort | |
| construction | Truss bridge | |
| overall length | 467 m | |
| Longest span | 119.34 m | |
| Headroom | 20.15 m (for ships) | |
| location | ||
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The bridge at Westervoort ( Dutch Brug bij Westervoort ) spans the IJssel , the north-eastern arm of the Rhine in the Dutch Rhine-Maas Delta . A road and a cycle path between the cities of Arnhem and Westervoort run on the structure next to the Oberhausen – Arnhem railway line . The 467-meter-long half-timbered structure consisting of four individual bridges is located at kilometer 2.68 of the Dutch waterway 084 (IJssel – Keteldiep– Ketelmeer ). The next bridge to the south is the Emmerich Rhine Bridge, about 28 kilometers upstream .
history
Ship bridge
The name of the village Westervoort, first mentioned in a document in 726, can be traced back to a so-called ford (Dutch Voorde ), a shallow place in the river bed. This made it possible to cross the IJssel from east to west. In 1295 a ferry connection at Westervoort was first reported. The first bridge construction at this point was a ship bridge built in 1763 . This was moved to another location nine years later, after the branch of the IJssel had been moved almost two kilometers to the south. The previously right-angled confluence with the IJssel had occasionally caused the river bed to dry out. The pontoon bridge from Wesel was in use until 1813 and was an important link on the trade route between Arnhem and Cologne. In that year it was destroyed by fire and replaced by a new structure. The ship bridge was a few hundred meters from today's bridge upstream on Veerweg naar Westervoort ( ferry route to Westervoort ). The location is still easy to find today due to the dead streets.
Swing bridge
On July 18, 1851, the “ Prussian- Dutch contract for the construction of the Oberhausen –Wesel– Emmerich –Arnhem railway” was concluded. The route, which was economically important for both countries, required the construction of a large bridge at Westervoort for the time. Since the Netherlands had no previous experience with the construction of railway bridges of this size, the construction was entrusted to the English engineer Edwin Clark (1814-1894). According to his plans were constructed a two-pronged swing bridge having a length of 260 meters and a width of 10 meters. To protect the flat structure from drift ice , there were 12 icebreakers in front of the bridge. On January 8, 1853, the last load test of the bridge took place and on October 20, 1856 the double-track operation of the entire railway line began. On the first day there were four passenger trains and one freight train, in 1859 300 travelers per day, 666 quintals of freight and 10 head of cattle were transported. The elaborate bridge construction at Westervoort, with two rotating parts and a keeper's house in the middle of the river, was initially considered a technical masterpiece. In the period that followed, however, there were repeated problems with drift ice. In addition, the bridge was an obstacle for shipping and rail traffic.
Truss bridge
At the end of the 19th century it was decided to demolish the swing bridge and build a higher, fixed bridge. In 1897 the construction of the half-timbered construction began, the higher position of which made it necessary to fill up a railway embankment and to build a new train station in Westervoort. This time a road bridge was also built parallel to the two-part railway bridge, each with one track. On April 5, 1901, the structure, the dimensions of which largely corresponded to those of today's bridge, was opened for rail and road traffic. The structure consisted of six approach bridges and a stone arch bridge as an abutment on the southeast bank . On the Arnhem side there were two foreland bridges and two stone arch bridges as abutments. The current bridge was constructed with a span of 116.60 meters and a roadway below. After the opening of the structure, the upstream ferry service was discontinued.
During the Second World War , the bridge played an important strategic role several times. When the Wehrmacht attacked the Netherlands , the central part of the structure was blown up by the Dutch military. When Dutch soldiers were released from German captivity in June of the same year, they had to leave the train in Westervoort. The bridge was then repaired by the German occupiers so that it was navigable again from November 15, 1940. In April 1945 the bridge was blown up again, this time by the retreating German troops, who want to make the advance of the Allies more difficult. During the operation, the bridge was so badly damaged that it was impossible to rebuild the old structure. From July 1945 the remains of the destroyed structure were removed. The clean-up work proved complicated as the German soldiers had left numerous landmines and booby traps on the bridgeheads. About 50 German prisoners of war were used for the risky removal of the explosive devices and the remains of the bridge.
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A prefabricated British Callender-Hamilton bridge was delivered as a makeshift bridge , which was opened with a decorated pageant in November 1945. A little later a new, single-lane road bridge was opened to traffic. The new middle section had a span of only 74.50 meters, which is why another foreland bridge and a pillar in the river bed had to be built in the northwest. The railway bridge was currently only a single track. On August 31, 1964 at 9:10 a.m. the international train Oberhausen – Arnhem and the regional train from Arnhem to Zevenaar collided 100 meters east of the bridge. Five people were killed and 52 injured in the accident.
In 1971 the temporary road bridge was replaced by a new construction with a 9.8 meter wide carriageway and a span of 119.34 meters. In 1980 the bridge over the railway overpass was replaced by a longer one. In 1981 a bridge for cyclists and pedestrians was built next to it. In 1984 the railway bridge was replaced by a double truss bridge, which meant that the section of the line could be used on two tracks again after almost twenty years. The spans of the four individual bridges are 42.85 m + 4x43.5 m + 44 m + 119.34 m + 42 m + 42.85 m from east to west.
See also
literature
- Bouwdienst Rijkswaterstaat (eds.) And J. Oosterhoff (ed.): Bruggen in Nederland 1800–1940. Utrecht 1997-1999. ISBN 90-534-5100-5
Web links
- The history of Westervoort In: chrisvankeulen.nl (Dutch)
- On the reconstruction of the bridge in 1945 and 1946 In: nicospilt.com (Dutch)
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The next bridge upstream: Emmerich Rhine Bridge |
Bridges over the Rhine |
The next bridge downstream: IJssel : IJsselbrücke (Rijksweg 12) |