So-da bridge

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The "So-da-Brücke" in Castrop-Rauxel-Frohlinde

So-da-Brücke , Soda-Brücke or Geisterbrücke is a common colloquial term in Germany for a bridge that is simply “so there”, ie currently does not fulfill any function and cannot be used due to a lack of access roads. In individual cases (as in Saarbrücken, see below ) the bridge may have access roads and be usable, even if not for its actual purpose.

The reason for the existence of such buildings is usually the lack of funding for the project. Furthermore, with insufficient planning, for reasons of political prestige or to maintain building rights, the construction of the bridge will begin before the financing of the remaining route ( motorway , railway ) is secured. For structural reasons, it is advisable to start building bridges before the actual roadway construction, as bridges can be subject to subsidence due to their weight. Difficulties can also arise if the bridge is on the border of two construction lots and these are not being built at the same time. Thus it often happens that such preliminary construction work appears to be useless in the landscape, at least for a medium-term period. If such structures are not opened to traffic in the long term , they are referred to as investment ruins.

history

The phenomenon of the "so-da bridge" is not new; it already existed as a planning and construction feature in antiquity . During the archaeological excavations on the Roman Canal , substructures of smaller aqueduct bridges were found, the orientation of which deviated slightly from the line that was built afterwards, only allowing the conclusion that they were built before the actual water pipeline was built. However, they were put into operation when the line was built. Nevertheless, Klaus Grewe uses the catchy term "So-da bridges" for the bridges built in advance.

Examples

With the increasing road construction in the 20th century, various bridges were built all over the world, which were later temporarily or completely no longer used for various reasons.

Germany

The “So-da-Brücke” near Euskirchen , at the back left is the end of Bundesstraße 56n, which was not built any further.
Aerial view of the So-da bridge investment ruins near Euskirchen

In Germany alone there are numerous examples of “So-da bridges”. A prominent example is a motorway bridge on the A 1 near Euskirchen , which was built for the planned BAB 56 in the 1970s ( location ). On June 15, 2001, the Cologne rock band BAP presented their new album Aff un zo there and displayed the bridge on the cover. The bridge is also known as the "dead bridge of Euskirchen".

In 2005 the Itztal Bridge in the northeast of Coburg was discussed as an alleged waste of taxes . The new bridge is part of the Nuremberg – Erfurt high-speed line , which was completed in 2017. The same applies to the Geratalbrücke Ichtershausen near Erfurt, which was completed in 2001.

In the Ruhr area, there has been a plan for the “Neuen Hellweg ” north of the Autobahn 40 between the cities of Bochum and Dortmund since the late 1970s , the construction of which has only begun and remained unfinished after a few years. Only a section of the planned four-lane expressway, starting to the west on the B 235 in Castrop-Rauxel-Merklinde , was built and opened to traffic. The route ends after 1.5 kilometers east at the ramps next to a useless "So-da bridge" over Dortmunder Straße in Castrop-Rauxel-Frohlinde ( Lage ). The eastern bridge embankment was no longer raised. The building construction has been visible as a visual object for around 30 years, for example for civil engineering students at the Universities of Bochum and Dortmund.

The Schänzlebrücke in Constance is a former “So-da bridge” . Four lanes planned as part of a motorway over the Rhine to Switzerland in the 1970s and built in the 1980s, it was only provided with temporary access roads and only used two lanes for inner-city traffic. Because until the planning of the bridge there was still the option of expanding the Upper Rhine and Lake Constance to Constance for shipping, the bridge is also higher than it would have to be for recreational shipping. It was only between 2000 and 2006 that the access roads were converted to full use with a connection to Switzerland, but on the German side only in the course of a four-lane federal road.

In Saarbrücken there is the "Tote Brücke" ("Dood Brigg" in the Saarbrücken dialect) over the Saar, which was never used for its actual purpose. It has four lanes and is provided with street lighting and was originally intended to connect the Sankt Arnual district with the Daarler Wiesen , because an industrial area was planned on the meadows in the 1970s. Due to the lack of connection to the street, it is only used by pedestrians. ( Location )

An example of “So-da bridges” on the Reichsautobahn is on RAB route 46 (Würzburg – Fulda). Some large, completed overpass structures remained here, for example over the road MSP 17 Burgsinn – Gräfendorf ( Lage ), as well as several small bridges. This route to Gräfendorf is 90% complete in parts, but was not continued after the construction in 1940 in the post-war period. One reason was new standards for the routing, so a maximum of 6% gradient is allowed instead of the previous 8%. Another special reason was the inner-German border . This closure made it necessary to connect the East Bavarian border area with traffic . The subsequently built BAB 7 runs 20–30 kilometers east of the abandoned construction site on route 46.

At the BAB 66 , the case occurred that a “So-da bridge” was finally put into operation in its original construction after decades of standing, namely the passage for the B 40 on the south side of the Kinzig Valley Viaduct, which has now been downgraded to a district road Ahl (Bad Soden-Salmünster) : built in 1962, in operation since December 1994. ( location )

In the parking lot of the Vellern rest stop on the BAB 2 (south side, direction Hanover), a “So-da bridge” has been under monument protection since September 2012, when the world's oldest prestressed concrete bridge was moved. However, this bridge was in use at its original location for decades, only when it was moved to its current location (which was done to save the bridge from being demolished) it was transformed into a So-da bridge.

The "So-da-Brücke" from Ramsenthal near Bayreuth ( Lage ) from 2009 was further built in 2012/2013. Nevertheless, it stood useless in the landscape for a few years and gained national recognition as an example of poor planning and wasted taxes. It has been open to traffic since mid-October 2013.

In the course of Stuttgart 21 resulting railway overpass Sulzbachtal is one of those bridges will be completed before the commercial start-up years, in this case there were decade.

The bridge built in the 1970s over the A 99 on Feringasee near Unterföhring was also a "So-da bridge" until 2018. Since the beginning of 2018 it has been renovated and converted into a green bridge . ( Location )

Between Eichenau and Olching, west of Munich, there is a “So-da-Brücke” in a wood, which used to lead over a branch of the Munich north ring that has now been dismantled . ( Location )

There is a concrete bridge near the BAB 4 near Thiemendorf (Waldhufen) , the use of which has been discarded in favor of a tunnel through the Königshain mountains. ( Location )

Unlike many other "So-da bridges", the Green Bridge Neesen in Porta Westfalica was not created by an incomplete construction, but rather by a demolition stopped by the city, which began on the eastern part of this former railway bridge over the Weser. The remaining part, in particular the stretch that spans the Weser and the Weser cycle path between Porta Westfalica and Minden , is still there.

Switzerland

An example of a “So-da bridge” in Switzerland is near Hinwil , a municipality southeast of the city of Zurich ( Lage ). In the so-called Betzholz gyro, one as roundabout sized branch that is highway 52 from the Zurich Oberland motorway from. Originally, traffic in the direction of the A 52 was supposed to go through the roundabout and the rest of the traffic in the direction of Uster . The section between Uster and Hinwil has not yet been built, on the one hand because of a lack of financial resources and on the other hand because of objections due to the planned route through the Ambietzgiriet between Wetzikon and Hinwil. For this reason there has been a “So-da Bridge” on the north side of the roundabout since 1990. Although the A 53 should be expanded continuously between the Brüttiseller Kreuz and Reichenburg , it is unclear when the construction machines will drive to close the gap on the A 53. It is also unclear whether the route will still lead over the Hinwil "So-da-Brücke" by then.

Other countries

The bridge to nowhere over the Maungaparua Stream in New Zealand

An example of a "So-da bridge" in New Zealand is the Bridge to Nowhere (German: Bridge to Nowhere ).

In the Netherlands , the Prince Willem Alexander Bridge is mockingly called Brug van niks naar nergens (German: bridge from nothing to nowhere ) because its two-way lanes in the south ended for decades on an ordinary country road.

The Hodariyat Bridge or Al-Bateen Bridge , a multi-lane road bridge in Abu Dhabi ( Lage ), was considered a ghost bridge for a few years after its construction in 2012. It leads from the city center on the main island of Abu Dhabi in the north, over an approximately 800 meter wide sea channel, to the dune island of Al-Hodariyat off the south coast of the city. At the time the bridge was completed, there were no buildings or road network on this island. The southern ramp simply ended in sand and the bridge could only be crossed by the public on foot. From around 2017, however, the island's urban development began, there is now a beach car park and the first buildings have been erected.

Web links

Commons : Bridges to Nowhere  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Klaus Grewe: The Römerkanalwanderweg: An archaeological hiking guide. 1988, ISBN 3-921805-16-3 , page 27 f.
  2. ^ Entry by Franz-Josef Knöchel on the soda bridge between Frauenberg and Elsig ("So da Brücke", "dead bridge", unfinished motorway bridge on the A 56 federal motorway) in the " KuLaDig " database of the Rhineland Regional Association , accessed on July 17, 2017 .
  3. Traudl Brenner: Bridge fates: sometimes meaningless, sometimes indispensable. In: Saarbrücker Zeitung. May 3, 2010. Retrieved July 17, 2017 .
  4. A-2 bridge now a monument without a supporting role. In: The bell online. September 6, 2013, accessed July 17, 2017 .
  5. "So-da-Brücke" is being built. In: Nordbayerischer Kurier. April 17, 2012, accessed October 10, 2017 .
  6. “So-Da-Brücke” becomes famous. In: Frankenpost. April 23, 2012, accessed October 17, 2013 .
  7. ^ ZDF media library: Hammer of the week: Teure Brücke (video) ( Memento from December 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) '
  8. Traffic rolls over the "So-da Bridge". In: Nordbayerischer Kurier. October 16, 2013. Retrieved October 17, 2013 .
  9. Bridge on the Feringasee. In: notizen.netzjahre.com. Retrieved August 6, 2018 .
  10. sandmarie2014: Brücke ins Nirgendwo , blogspot.com, October 12, 2015, accessed on April 20, 2020.