Expansion of the Upper Rhine
As Upper Rhine expansion carried out 1928 to 1970 are hydraulic engineering work on the Upper Rhine between Kembs and Strasbourg respectively.
In the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, France received the right to use the water power of the Rhine along the border to generate electricity and regulate water. Between 1928 and 1959, the approximately 60 km long Rhine canal from Kembs to Breisach with barrages and weirs was built. As a result, the Rhine withered into a narrow trickle in its river bed, and the alluvial forest gradually died out.
In order to avoid further damage, the further expansion of the Rhine between Breisach and Strasbourg was carried out with four further barrages in a loop solution. Part of the Rhine water has now been returned to a loop of canals parallel to the old river bed. The shipping route runs partly in the Rhine itself, partly in the canal. In order to raise the water level of the Rhine again, weirs and the barrages Gambsheim and Iffezheim were built.