Isteiner sleepers
The Isteiner thresholds are rapids in the Upper Rhine at Rhine kilometer 177 near the southern Baden town of Istein , which belong to the municipality of Efringen-Kirchen . They lie parallel to the Rhine canal built in 1928 and were used as a waterway for shipping from Basel to the north until then.
Emergence
The “thresholds” are the last remnants of a Jura massif ( Isteiner Klotz ), which originally blocked the Rhine from heading north. Due to the straightening of the Rhine by Johann Gottfried Tulla in the 19th century, this section was made navigable. Today the Rhine is about 11 m lower. The earlier high water marks from the 19th century can still be seen well on a rock outcrop by the chapel.
However, this area of the Rhine represented a major obstacle to shipping due to the many boulders and a gradient. For this reason, among other things, the Rhine side canal (French: Grand Canal d'Alsace ) was built from Weil am Rhein- Markt to Breisach from 1928 built.
Today's meaning
The Isteiner thresholds in the Old Rhine (actually the Rhine) with their small sand and stone beaches are a popular local recreation area, which can be easily reached on the towpath that extends parallel to the Rhine ; there is also one of the most popular nudist beaches in the border triangle .
As part of the integrated Rhine program of the state of Baden-Württemberg, the redesign of the bank area surrounding the “thresholds” began at the beginning of 2009 (Section 1). On the German side of the banks of the Rhine, for example, a section of forest of around 1.2 km was cleared and a cycle path was relocated to the newly created, flood-free side path. The aim is to promote the development of near-natural floodplains by 2020 by digging out gravel in several places and creating site-appropriate vegetation along the Rhine from Märkt to Breisach in order to create a floodplain . The retention of the amount of water due to the resulting roughness in the river Rhine serves to restore the flood safety of the Upper Rhine below the Iffezheim lock .
A visitor platform was built in 2009 to compensate for the space required. It cost about 160,000 euros. For those seeking relaxation, a warning lamp or a warning signal should be installed to alert bathers to rapidly rising water through the operation of the Märkt weir by Electricité de France . For environmental reasons and for technical reasons, however, this was not done. The platform is partly controversial among the population, it interferes too massively in the natural landscape, but partly also a popular excursion destination.
Individual evidence
- ^ Information from the Freiburg Regional Council
- ^ Badische Zeitung of January 15, 2009 on the construction of the visitor platform
Web links
- Description on the Freiburg-Schwarzwald.de page
- Image gallery of the groundbreaking ceremony for the visitor platform
Coordinates: 47 ° 38 ′ 49.8 " N , 7 ° 32 ′ 31.3" E