Weinberg Bridge opened over the Havel river in Rathenow

Under intense public interest, the Weinberg Bridge in Rathenow was opened and named on 15 October 2014. The 348m long footbridge serves as a way of connecting the optics park with the area at Weinberg during the German National Garden Show 2015.

The basic concept of this demanding construction project was set out as part of the 154th Schinkel Competition in 2009. It was the proposal put forward by civil engineering and architecture students from Hamburg for an S-shaped walkway with two sloping arches over the Havel and the Havel oxbow, “Hellers Loch”, that proved to be the winning entry.

The bridge deck consists of a slim, hollow steel box which is carried by a total of fourteen Y-shaped steel supports. At the widest point of the crossing over the Havel and Hellers Loch, the deck is connected on one side by means of hanging ropes with an eccentrically arranged arch angled at less than 25°. In order to minimise transverse bending of the arch, the hanging ropes are connected using steel trusses arranged radially along the deck. The concrete-filled steel arch ends at the top of the bridge deck. The horizontal thrust is by-passed by means of a pre-stressed rope.

All supports, as well as both thrust blocks at Weinberg and the Optics Park, are immovably fixed to the bridge deck. The Weinberg bridge is therefore an integral construction without joints and bearings.

Due to the sleek and simple design, certain resonance frequencies of the bridge are in the critical frequency range for pedestrians. To avoid undue resonances and to ensure a high level of comfort during use, vibration absorbers were fitted in the bridge’s hollow chambers.

Under instruction from the city of Rathenow, KREBS+KIEFER carried out an on-site static-constructional assessment of all execution documents for the construction project, including workshop plans and assembly strategies, and also carried out engineering checks. The engineer responsible for the assessment was Dr Hans-Gerd Lindlar. Processing responsibilities were taken on by Mr Toralf Zeißler (D.Eng.), as project leader, and Mr Karsten Jacob (D. Eng.).

This is not the first time that KREBS+KIEFER has worked for the city of Rathenow. In 2006, KREBS+KIEFER was, amongst others, commissioned by the National Garden Show in Rathenow to plan the walkways leading to the B188 underpass and was recognised for this work as part of the Brandenburg Engineering Prize.