Chain Bridge (Bamberg)

Chain bridge
Crossing of	Right Regnitzarm ( Main-Danube Canal )
place	Bamberg
construction	Chain bridge
overall length	72.65 m
width	15.0 m
Longest span	61.8 m
start of building	2009
completion	2010
planner	Planning community Grad - Dietz - Goldbrunner
	location
Coordinates	49 ° 53 '46 " N , 10 ° 53' 29" E Coordinates: 49 ° 53 '46 " N , 10 ° 53' 29" E

The Chain Bridge in Bamberg crosses the Rechter Regnitzarm , which is also part of the Main-Danube Canal here , and connects the Hauptwaxstrasse with the Kettenbrückstrasse. The former road bridge is now part of the pedestrian zone around Maximiliansplatz.

It is the only bridge over the right Regnitzarm within the boundaries of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Bamberg's old town .

Viewed shipping Technically it stands at MDK-km 5,154 and has a headroom m of 7.00.

description

The chain bridge , built between 2009 and 2010, is a modern version of its predecessor from the mid-19th century and of the chain bridges that were often built at the time . The 72.65 m long and 15.0 m wide bridge panel hangs on the suspension chains made of eye poles, which are supported by the pylons and anchored in anchor blocks. These blocks are integrated into the abutments and, in turn, anchored deep beneath the buildings on the canal bank . Stairways and elevators connect the bridge deck with the riverside paths.

Each of the two suspension chains consists of 18 steel eye sticks in three layers. The rods are connected by articulated chain locks and hinged to the pylon heads. Between the pylon heads and the anchor blocks, each 8.75 m long eye rods are used in triplicate. Double hanging rods are attached to the chain locks. The cross girders on which the bridge table rests hang on it. Horizontal ropes are attached to the projecting ends of the cross member secured to help keep a ship impact, as well as the LED - lights which illuminate the bridge.

The pylons consist of steel stems on the side of the bridge panel. The pylon feet are articulated on their base plates, which stand on pile head beams and the bored piles supporting them. The pylons tower over the bridge panel by 6.7 m. The bridge panel is a composite of a steel girder grid and a concrete slab made of prefabricated parts. It is reinforced with in-situ concrete and covered with mastic asphalt .

history

Collapse of the lake bridge in 1784

A sespruck was first mentioned in a document in 1312, a wooden yoke bridge built at this point , which over the years had to be repaired and renewed again and again. The origin of the name is unclear.

In Bamberg's heyday in the Baroque era , Prince Bishop Johann Philipp Anton von und zu Frankenstein commissioned his court architect Balthasar Neumann to plan the stone lake bridge with four round arches . It was built between 1752 and 1757.

After the extreme winter of 1783/84 and one of the largest floods in Central Europe, this bridge, like all Bamberg bridges and numerous others along the Main , was destroyed by the ice jolt on February 27, 1784 . Many people were killed or injured, and some of the houses on the bank were destroyed. For the next 25 years, the people of Bamberg had to make do with a wooden walkway built over the remains of the piers.

In 1809 the wooden Seesbrücke was inaugurated, designed by Carl Friedrich von Wiebeking , who at the time was the Royal General Director of all Bavarian water, bridge and road construction. The largest wooden bridge of its time spanned the Regnitz with a span of 71 m without piers and was therefore not at risk of flooding. However, after a few years, its wood showed the first signs of rot damage, so that it had to be demolished as early as 1826.

The Chain Bridge 1889

The Bamberg district architect Franz Jos built on it. Schierlinger, based on the model of the bridge built by Friedrich Schnirch in Saaz , a wrought-iron chain bridge with pylons by Leo von Klenze . It was opened on December 31, 1829 and officially called Ludwigsbrücke , but colloquially mostly called the Chain Bridge.

Local tradition says that John Augustus Roebling took this bridge as a model for the Brooklyn Bridge . Roebling had met Kettenbrücken while studying in Berlin, but had already passed his exam in 1826. Up until his Brooklyn Bridge, which was built between 1869 and 1883, technical development advanced rapidly and does not allow us to see the early German bridges as models for the Brooklyn Bridge.

Like all early chain bridges, the one in Bamberg was constructed very lightly, so that damage soon occurred and in 1879 the permissible load had to be reduced.

It was therefore replaced by a steel arch bridge designed by Friedrich Hohmann and built between 1891 and 1892, which was officially still called the Ludwigsbrücke , while the vernacular remained the familiar chain bridge . It did its job until it was blown up on April 11, 1945, a few days before the end of World War II , to stop the advance of American troops. The population then had to make do with a pedestrian walkway.

1953 was a frame bridge with two slightly haunched prestressed concrete - hollow boxes opened, at the draft Ulrich Finsterwalder had participated. Like many post-war bridges, it was no longer able to cope with the sharp increase in traffic after 50 years.

In 2005, a design competition for a new building was held, in which three second prizes were awarded in 2006. In 2007 the Grad - Dietz - Goldbrunner planning association was commissioned to plan the new bridge.

As a temporary replacement for the Chain Bridge , a steel pedestrian bridge was installed next to it, which was then finally installed at the nearby State Garden Show in 2012. The concrete bridge was demolished in 2009. Since the Main-Danube Canal had to be closed for two weeks during the demolition work for safety reasons, the time was used for a lock revision.