Foreshore Freeway Bridge

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The unfinished Foreshore Freeway Bridge, 2007

The Foreshore Freeway Bridge is a bridge in the South African city ​​of Cape Town . Construction of the bridge began in the early 1970s, but was canceled in 1977 and the structure has not yet been completed .

history

In the 1960s, city planners designed a new road network for Cape Town, which was to connect the districts at the harbor with the city center. Around 1970 the construction of a new freeway began, in the course of which the construction of the Foreshore Freeway Bridge was planned. The driveways were built at both ends of the planned bridge until 1977, but construction was then canceled and not continued. Between the built ramps at the ends of the bridge, about 260 meters of the structure are missing.

There have been various speculations about the reasons for the construction stop, some of which have developed into urban legends . For example, there was talk of a mistake by the engineers that made the completion of the bridge impossible, and the possibility of financial difficulties or the reduction in traffic at the end of the 1970s were also considered as the cause. A shop owner who did not want to sell his land for the construction of the bridge also circulated as a reason for the abandonment of the construction, but none of the declarations has been proven with certainty.

Usage and plans

The 2003 Foreshore Freeway Bridge at night

The unfinished bridge developed into a tourist attraction in Cape Town in the years after the construction stop. It was also used as a backdrop for various advertising and film shoots, for example for the US game show Fear Factor or the British television series Black Mirror .

During the World Cup in 2010 , the world's largest vuvuzela, according to the Guinness Book of Records, was installed on one of the bridge ramps . The Hyundai Motor Company financed the construction of the 35 meter long object . The instrument was remote-controlled and was supposed to produce a sound before every game of the World Cup. Due to concerns on the part of the city administration that the noise could be too loud and disrupt the circulating traffic, a restricted use was agreed.

In 2013 and 2014, students from the University of Cape Town developed the “Future Foreshore Project”, in which ideas for the future design of the districts around the unfinished bridge were collected. A vision was to transform the bridge ramps into public parks and to let a waterfall flow from the end of the bridge.

The eastern driveway of the planned bridge was approved by the city administration in 2015 as a parking lot for the adjacent Cape Town International Convention Center (CTICC).

In July 2016, the city published Cape Town under the patronage of Mayor de Patricia Lille a tender under the motto "The Development of the Foreshore Freeway Precinct" ( German  "The development of the Foreshore Freeway District" ), potential for suggestions investors to collect, how the infrastructure of the urban area can be further developed. Six proposals were ultimately selected, and were presented to the public at the Cape Town International Convention Center by March 2017. Only one of the plans, that of the Cape Town engineering firm Mitchell Du Plessis Associates (MDA), provided for the completion of the bridge; others wanted to dismantle the bridge fragments and, for example, build road tunnels in their place . The decision was made in favor of the MDA proposal. At the beginning of 2018, the Cape Town city council announced that the construction of the freeway and thus the bridge should be resumed. In addition to the completion of the bridge structure, several new high-rise buildings and other infrastructure are to be built.

See also

Web links

Commons : Foreshore Freeway Bridge  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Bernd Dörries: Most useless bridge in the world should finally be finished. Süddeutsche Zeitung, March 6, 2018, accessed on March 7, 2018 .
  2. ↑ The Unfinished. Der Tagesspiegel, January 11, 2013, accessed on March 7, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Lisa Zeller: The largest vuvuzela in the world. Noir Online, July 11, 2010, archived from the original on March 8, 2018 ; accessed on March 7, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Alexandra Hudson: Giant vuvuzela waits for council go-ahead to toot. Reuters, June 18, 2010, accessed March 7, 2018 .
  5. ↑ a b Raphael Wolf: Unfinished highway set for resolution at end of year. Independent Online, March 3, 2015, accessed March 7, 2018 .
  6. ^ Lance Berelowitz: Cape Town and Vancouver diverge on development. Vancouver Sun, March 5, 2018, accessed March 7, 2018 .
  7. ↑ Tess McKain: Fixing South Africa 's highway to nowhere. Geographical, May 4, 2017, accessed March 7, 2018 .

Coordinates: 33 ° 54 ′ 53.3 "  S , 18 ° 25 ′ 18.7"  E