Leaning Bridge (Olfen)

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Crooked bridge
The empty bridge trough with bike and pedestrian paths
Evening lighting

The "Schiefe Brücke" led the old route of the Dortmund-Ems Canal over Oststrasse, the former B 235 , in Olfen . Today the bridge trough is no longer filled with water and is used as a cycling and hiking trail.

The bridge is one of the four historic bridge structures on the old route of the Dortmund-Ems Canal (DEK for short) between Datteln and Olfen. Further south the DEK crosses the Pelkumer Weg and with the canal bridge Alte Fahrt the Lippe . A canal bridge leads further north over the Stever .

The "Leaning Bridge" was started in 1894 and completed in 1897. The attribute “crooked” refers to the 60-degree angle between the canal route and the road route, while at that time, for technical and economic reasons, the right angle was the norm for such overpasses.

The bridge was designed in the style of historicism under the direction of the Royal Prussian Senior Building Director Karl Hinckeldeyn . In contrast to most of the other engineering structures on the canal, their end faces were made of reddish Eichsfeld sandstone from the Arenhausen quarry near Kassel , as this was better suited for the manual execution of the structural architectural elements. The middle part of the bridge with the passage opening protrudes somewhat on both end faces in the manner of a risalit and is emphasized on both sides by a corner cuboid. The arched openings of the passage in the end faces are made of stones with rounded edges; the highlighted keystone names the year the foundation stone was laid as an inscription.

In 1960 four tie rods were pulled in at the level of the canal floor to reinforce the structure above the passage opening, the light-colored anchor plates of which are clearly visible in the end faces.

In 1980 the tramway was lowered, creating a clearance of 3.80 meters in the middle of the street.

In 1992, as part of the preparation for the 100th anniversary, extensive restoration work was carried out and, among other things, replicas of the old cast iron railings were installed.

The bridge is also illuminated at the end faces at night.

literature

Web links

Commons : Schiefe Brücke Olfen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 51 ° 42 ′ 28.5 ″  N , 7 ° 23 ′ 6.3 ″  E