• Today, Wednesday, Aachen's new city center bridge was reopened to all road users.
• Numerous visitors took the opportunity to cross the new bridge.
• The new bridge was widened from 19.90 meters to 22.20 meters.

Hand in hand, just as the bridge project was planned and implemented by Aachener Stadtbetrieb and Aachen City Council from the very beginning, it was also completed: Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen, Heiko Thomas, Alderman for Climate and Environment, Municipal Operations and Buildings of the City of Aachen, Indra Balsam, Operations Manager of Aachener Stadtbetrieb, and Gisela Weiß, Head of the Road Maintenance and Bridge Construction Division of Stadtbetrieb, carry the last barriers from Turmstrasse and thus officially opened the new Turmstrasse bridge today, Wednesday, October 9.

"The fact that so many people are already using the bridge shows how important it is as a connection point," said Lord Mayor Sibylle Keupen.

"This was not an everyday task for all of us, but a major project. It's a bridge that connects the university with the city center. A bridge that was designed to meet the needs of cars, bicycles and pedestrians and that also crosses railroad tracks. This makes it clear that this is a bridge of connection." Sibylle Keupen emphasized: "Many unexpected obstacles had to be overcome. But the result is what counts: The bridge is finished! It's a good day for Aachen!"

"Great team performance!"

Numerous students, citizens and employees of the city administration were present at the official opening. "We can be happy together today and proud of what has been achieved. This was one of the most complicated projects we have overseen, partly because the bridge crosses railroad tracks," said Heiko Thomas, Aachen's Councillor for Climate and Environment, City Operations and Buildings. "Everyone involved took on the challenges that arose and always found solutions. That was a great team effort!"

This was evident in the past few weeks, among other things, when numerous areas of Aachen's municipal services were active in all areas. The city's tree crew planted two trees, pyramid rowan trees, which are very bird and bee-friendly. The green maintenance crew planted the adjacent areas, while the city cleaning team assisted with cleaning the sidewalks and roadways. "Completing the bridge was a joint project involving everyone involved. I am incredibly proud to be part of this municipal company, the city administration and this project," said Indra Balsam, Operations Manager of the municipal company.

"Intensive and exciting time"

For Gisela Weiß, Head of Road Maintenance and Bridge Construction, the opening of the Turmstrasse bridge marks the end of a long-standing project. Together with Elmar Holzbach, she was in charge of the project for more than ten years. "The past period was very intensive and exciting. But also a wonderful one, because so many people were involved in this project: City administration employees from areas such as traffic monitoring, traffic planning, traffic engineering, traffic regulations, road planning and road markings. But of course also the colleagues from the areas of explosive ordnance disposal, applying for funding, awarding contracts, auditing, the legal department, monument preservation and archaeology, tree protection and finance. Without the cohesion of a large and great team in the background, a construction project of this magnitude would be impossible to implement."

The new bridge, a steel composite bridge, was widened from 19.90 meters to the maximum possible dimension of 22.20 meters between the catenary masts. This change has an impact on the footpaths. The footpath in the direction of Schanz was adjusted to 2.50 meters, and in the direction of Ponttor it was widened from 2.20 meters to 3.50 meters. Furthermore, a 2.55-metre-wide cycle lane was created in each direction.

Background and construction process

As part of a regular main inspection in accordance with DIN 1076 in 2013, damage was found on the old Turmstraße bridge, a box girder bridge built in 1971, including damp patches, standing water in the box girders and a defective drainage system. If a bridge is deteriorating, the process is gradual. Minor renovations to the bridge were carried out on an ongoing basis, but the reports of damage increased. Following a stability recalculation in 2015 and an economic feasibility study in 2016, it became clear that large sections of the bridge would have to be rebuilt. Planning for the new construction began: Closure breaks were requested and applied for from Deutsche Bahn AG, the first draft plans were drawn up and budget funds were budgeted for the new construction. The original plans still envisaged a temporary bridge. However, after the flood disaster in the Ahr valley in 2021, shortly before the planned tender, the planned temporary bridge could not be brought to Aachen. It was therefore absolutely necessary to reschedule the traffic routing and construction schedule. The original plan, which envisaged working in two halves, could not be implemented. A different work sequence was required, which necessitated a large-scale detour concept.

On May 2, 2022, Turmstraße was closed in the area of the bridge between Claßenstraße and Prof.-Pirlet-Straße. In preparation for the bridge demolition, the railings and lighting masts were first dismantled and the asphalt road surface removed. Demolition of the superstructure and piers began on May 16: Once the bridge caps with railings had been removed, the demolition of the lateral cantilevers followed. This was followed by the demolition of the first box girder. To do this, the upper deck slab was smashed before the deck floor and the side walkway could be removed. In the course of the demolition, the positions of the excavators were shifted and the demolition continued underneath the bridge.

In August, it turned out that the conditions found did not correspond to the assumptions of the design planning: The north abutment could not be upgraded due to the poor building fabric, but also had to be demolished and rebuilt. This led to delays in the further construction process: The steel girders could not be installed in the fall of 2022 as planned, but only in the spring of 2023, during the next announced railroad closure period, as work had to be carried out in the track area.

The subsequent work was delayed accordingly. In September 2023, it became apparent that the reinforcement and concreting of the cross girders was significantly more complex than planned. The subsequent work on the carriageway slab and cantilever arms was therefore delayed beyond recognition.

The formwork for the caps on the wings of the new bridge was completed at the end of 2023. However, during the following winter months, the weather was so bad that it was not possible to carry out the construction work properly. In particular, the very sensitive work on the waterproofing was not possible. The concreting work on the caps also had to be postponed several times. In addition, construction defects were discovered that had to be rectified before work could continue.

Work resumed in April 2024: The waterproofing was applied, the caps were concreted, the footpaths were constructed in the connecting areas and the contact protection and railings were installed. The final milestone was reached in September with the asphalting and marking of the road surfaces. Following the main inspection of the new bridge and formal acceptance on October 8, the bridge was finally opened to all road users today, Wednesday, October 9.

More information at

www.aachen.de/turmstrasse