Status: 02/06/2022 3:56 p.m
Never before has a bridge this high in Germany been blown up: 120 kilograms of explosives were needed to bring down the Rinsdorf motorway bridge on the A45. The 55-year-old building was showing its age.
In Siegerland near Wilnsdorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, the Rinsdorf motorway bridge on the A45 has been blown up. The 500 meter long and 70 meter high dilapidated valley bridge from 1967 was brought down with 120 kilograms of explosives. According to the federal Autobahn GmbH, a bridge this high has never been blown up in Germany.
The blast couldn’t go wrong
The 55-year-old building near the Hessian state border collapsed as planned at 11 a.m. after demolition expert Michael Schneider had given the signal to detonate. The explosives had previously been installed in 1850 boreholes in such a way that the 16 pillars of the bridge collapsed with a bang and fell to the ground together with the road surface.
It was important that the newly built section of the bridge, which has been passable since December 2021, directly next to the blown-up bridge, was not damaged. Numerous onlookers followed the meticulously planned event from a safe distance.
60 more bridges have to be renewed
The expansion of the so-called Sauerland line is one of the largest construction projects on North Rhine-Westphalian motorways. There are 60 valley bridges along the entire route, which are now showing their age and need to be renewed bit by bit.
15 of these are currently under construction or will start construction this year. The dilapidated A45 viaduct Rahmede near Lüdenscheid, which has been closed since the beginning of December, is causing serious problems on the important north-south traffic axis. It will have to be completely rebuilt in the coming years.