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Huge viaduct of the A45 successfully blown up
The dilapidated Rahmede viaduct on Autobahn 45 near Lüdenscheid is history. Photo: Dieter Menne/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
70 meters high and 500 meters long: the dilapidated motorway bridge near Wilnsdorf is no longer standing. It was blown up as scheduled at 11 a.m. on Sunday.
120 kilograms of explosives successfully brought down a 500 meter long and 70 meter high viaduct of the Autobahn 45 near Wilnsdorf in North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday.
According to the federal Autobahn GmbH, a motorway bridge as high as the Rinsdorf viaduct has never been blown up.
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.
Onlookers at a safe distance
According to an initial assessment made by those responsible during the live broadcast on WDR television, everything went according to plan. 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.
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.