Bridge damage
The condition of the Turmstraße bridge has steadily deteriorated since 2013. The damage is evident in various places. Among other things, the concrete on the outer superstructure, on the substructures and in the box girder interiors is defective. There is concrete spalling and efflorescence. Furthermore, it is apparent that the arching of the floor slab was not carried out properly. There are damp spots, standing water in the box girder and a defective drainage system.

The bridge must be demolished and rebuilt.

 
Closure of Turmstraße
For the demolition and the new construction of the bridge, the part of Turmstraße has to be completely closed. The full closure will be in place on Monday, May 2. The official detour route can be found here. In the run-up to the project, there may be time restrictions on traffic due to preparations for the project.

 
Closure of train traffic
Further weekend closures (Saturday and Sunday) of rail traffic are planned for the last time on November 18/19, 2023.

 
Closure of Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse
Due to preparatory work for the demolition of the Turmstraße bridge, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße will have to be closed to motor vehicle traffic as early as Monday, April 25. The contracted construction company will build a ramp for the removal of the construction debris from this date.

 
Completion of the bridge
The bridge is scheduled for completion and opening in the spring of 2024.

 
The new bridge will be wider
Currently, the bridge has a width of 19.90 meters. The future bridge will be widened to 22.20 meters. This change will first affect the sidewalks. The sidewalk in the direction of Schanz will be adjusted to 2.50 meters, and in the direction of Ponttor it will be widened from the current 2.20 meters to 3.50 meters.

The current box girder bridge will be replaced by a steel composite bridge in the new construction. Among other things, this technology will enable construction to progress rapidly. Prefabricated slabs will be mounted on steel girders, followed by a concrete extension.      

 
Planning has been underway for several years
The Turmstraße bridge is part of the outer ring road (Bundesstraße 1a) and crosses a total of seven Deutsche Bahn tracks as well as Geschwister-Scholl-Straße. The bridge, built in 1971, is a two-span bridge made of reinforced concrete with hollow boxes that are prestressed longitudinally and transversely. Investigations showed that a replacement bridge as a composite bridge would be most economical.

Planning for the new construction of the Turmstraße bridge has been underway for years. Initially, the technical administration had assumed that it would be able to work with a shorter interval of full closures on Turmstrasse. It wanted to use temporary bridges to allow both motor vehicle traffic and pedestrian and bicycle traffic to cross the rail line in the eight individual construction phases originally planned. But such makeshift bridges no longer exist after the July 2021 flood. They are all in use in the areas affected by the flood.

Construction work without a makeshift bridge has the advantage of shortening the overall construction period by half a year.