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Anyone who has followed the development of the Linz West Ring (A26) over the past few years and decades knows that delays are something of a sad trademark of the new city motorway. So it was quite fitting that yesterday when assembling the first part of the roadway of the new bridge, not everything went according to Asfinag’s strict time schedule: one of the cable cars that had been stretched over the Danube to erect the supporting structure of the bridge failed yesterday early in the morning. At dizzying heights, technicians were still working on rectifying the defect before sunrise, but despite all efforts, the loss of time could not be fully made up for. A26 project manager Franz Sempelmann took the delay with humour: “Linz has had to wait so many years for the Westring, a few more hours will hardly matter.”
Lifting of the 45 meter long and 250 tonne bridge element could only begin in the early afternoon. To ensure that nothing slips, the barge was previously fixed to the bottom of the Danube.
The steel colossus was pushed up millimeter by millimeter by a hydraulic lifting device before it finally reached the desired height in the late afternoon and could be mounted with centimeter precision on the thick steel suspension cables in the middle of the bridge.
This spectacle will be repeated six more times in the coming months. Another roadway element will be added about once a week until the bridge is expected to be closed at the beginning of February. For the time being, the bridge parts are only provisionally connected with steel bolts, only after a final check by surveyors are they firmly welded together. Then the construction of the concrete road plate can begin.
Even if Linz’s fourth Danube bridge will already look finished next year, Linzers and commuters will have to wait a little longer before this first section of the A26 is opened to traffic. All work on lighting, ventilation and video surveillance in the tunnels and on the bridge will be completed in the fourth quarter of 2024 at the earliest.
“Longest suspension bridge in the world”
Even if the western ring is still controversial and criticized above all by environmentalists, Linz has gained a new architectural landmark with the western ring bridge. With a span of more than 300 meters, this Danube crossing is the longest “real suspension bridge in the world”, according to Asfinag. Unlike the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, for example, it does not have any supporting pillars.
The transport policy expectations of the bridge are high. “The West Ring will be a milestone in relieving commuters in the central area,” says Governor Thomas Stelzer (VP).
Source: Nachrichten
