After less than 20 months of construction, traffic is once again flowing in both directions over the A544 Haarbachtal Bridge. Today, Monday (8.9.), the 157-metre-long viaduct was officially opened in the presence of numerous representatives from politics, business and administration.

In her speech, Mayor Sibylle Keupen thanked all those affected, especially the citizens of Haaren, who have had to show a lot of patience over the past few months, the companies that have adapted flexibly and all the citizens who have thought constructively and helped in the search for the best solution: "We all know that projects like this can only succeed if we work together. And that is exactly what we have experienced over the past few months - close, good and trusting cooperation between the administration, politicians, the relevant authorities, emergency services, police, fire department, ASEAG, Straßen.NRW, Autobahn GmbH and many more. Your advice, your criticism and your willingness to get through this time together have helped us to make everyday life a little more bearable for many people." In particular, she thanked Autobahn GmbH for its courage in using a new form of tender, which made it possible to award the contract to the company whose bid guaranteed the fastest realization of the construction. The approach worked, the bridge was built much faster than originally planned and the A544 was thus reopened.

The existing bridge, built in 1956, had to be demolished on January 30, 2024 due to serious damage. On the same day, Autobahn GmbH began the replacement construction, which was completed at the beginning of September 2025. At the same time as the Haarbachtal bridge was being replaced, the smaller "Auf der Hüls" bridge in the immediate vicinity on the A544 route, which was also damaged, was also rebuilt. At times, around 120 employees were working on the new Haarbachtal bridge at the same time. Remaining landscaping work, such as the renaturation of the Haarbach stream, will be completed in spring 2026.

To the Autobahn GmbH press release

To the Autobahn GmbH project page