Schierstein Bridge - History

History

At the end of the 1950s and early 1960s, the states of Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate began an extensive road construction program to further the development of the Rhine-Main Region. Planners recognized a need for a connection between the former Rhine-Main Expressway (Rhein-Main Schnellweg, now Bundesautobahn 66) on the right bank and Bundesstraße 9 (now Landstraße 419) on the left bank through a crossing of the Rhine north of Mainz. The bridge was also necessary to create a traffic ring in the Mainz-Wiesbaden area to better handle traffic coming from Frankfurt and Darmstadt. This ring, consisting of the A 643, A 66, A 671 and A 60, also included a second Rhine bridge south of Mainz.

The selected route of the Schierstein Bridge required the crossing of five specific areas: the Schierstein floodplain, the Schierstein arm of the Rhine, Rettbergsaue Island, the Mombach arm of the Rhine, and the Mombach floodplain. The designers wanted to create one bridge with a uniform aesthetic design in spite of the diversity of different spans required to be constructed.

In response to a free invitation, three designs were submitted to the official authorities. The designs included a steel construction with a lightweight steel deck, a composite concrete and steel construction, and a pre-stressed concrete design. Detailed investigations of the submissions showed the best solution was a combination of the three variants.

The production of sub-units of the superstructure and their assembly into larger units were made in large part in the workshop. Large on-site cranes were then used to place them and their assembly was successfully completed. The entire steel structure was delivered to the site by water from Düsseldorf on a rented boat and installed.