Kepler Bridge (Graz)

Kepler Bridge
use	Street
Crossing of	Mur
place	Graz , Styria
construction	Reinforced concrete bridge
overall length	67.8 m
Number of openings	1
completion	1836 (chain bridge) ; 1882 (arch bridge) ; 1963 (reinforced concrete bridge)
construction time	1962–1963 (today's bridge)
	location

47.077244 15.43305Coordinates: 47 ° 4 ′ 38 " N , 15 ° 25 ′ 59" E

The Keplerbrücke is a road bridge from 1963 over the Mur in the Styrian capital Graz . Its predecessor buildings date from 1836 ( chain bridge ) and 1882 ( arch bridge ).

history

Last renovation in 2015

The history of the crossing of the Mur at this point goes back to 1836, when the first bridge in the form of a chain bridge was opened here. When it opened, this chain bridge was the first in Styria and also the largest in Austria. The first bearer of the name of this bridge was the Emperor of Austria Ferdinand I , who ruled from 1835 to 1848. In 1882, the Ferdinand Bridge was converted into an arch bridge , where the Langersche beam was used for the first time , and in 1920 in honor of the German natural philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, Astrologer, optician and Protestant theologian Johannes Kepler , who taught at the University of Graz from 1594 to 1600 , was renamed Keplerbrücke .

In 1963 today's bridge was built in the form of a reinforced concrete bridge with steel girders. Unlike its predecessor, this new building no longer had any tram tracks for cost reasons. Up to this point in time, the ring line 2 of the Graz tram ran over the Kepler Bridge. Due to their current construction, subsequent track laying is no longer possible.

In the course of the following decades, the three-lane bridge was renovated several times; most recently in 2015. The heavily used route for bicycle and pedestrian traffic along the left bank of the Mur was underpassed here in 2006 without crossing through the longest bridge structure in the city. This underpass, opened on January 28, 2006 and named on October 12, 2006 in honor of the cycling pioneer Elise Steininger Elise-Steininger-Steg , has a length of 135 meters and was extended in 2012 by a 165-meter-long longitudinal bridge near the road and railway bridge Weinzödlbrücke replaced as the longest "bridge" in Graz.

The Kepler Bridge is one of the most popular areas in Graz for cyclists; For example, on an average working day in May 2017, almost 7,000 people were out on their bikes here. Measurements are taken at an automatic bike counting station installed on the bridge on the underwater (separated by a line) footpath and bike path since 2015 , which is supervised by the Department of Traffic Planning of the City of Graz. The Kepler-Gymnasium is located directly on the bridge on the right bank of the Mur.