At last, there's no detour to the outdoor pool: after about eight months of construction, the city of Frankfurt recently opened the new steel bridge over the Nidda to the Eschersheim outdoor pool. "The new bridge comes into use just in time for the upcoming outdoor pool season. Bathers can now walk from the west side of the river directly to the lido on the east side without having to make a detour across the makeshift bridge at the weir," said Michaela Kraft, head of the Office for Road Construction and Development (ASE), which is responsible for the new construction.
There is still some minor remaining work to be done, but this will not further disrupt operations. For example, new lighting will be installed on both banks of the Nidda. A large part of the bicycle racks, which had to give way during the construction work, will return to their original place on the western bank.
Although the new bridge can be used immediately, the temporary makeshift bridge at the weir will remain for a while longer, as it will be given another purpose: "After the end of this year's outdoor pool season in autumn, it is planned to bring the path running east of the Nidda up to the bridge with coloured asphalt and thus visually enhance it," explained head of office Kraft.
On the western bank, in turn, the renewal of a section of the Adam Riese path and the parking areas is still pending. During the construction work, pedestrians and cyclists will once again be diverted via the temporary bridge at the weir. Until then, however, the temporary structure will remain closed.
The construction of the new bridge was a logistical feat. In September 2018, ASE dismantled the dilapidated old wooden bridge and began foundation work for the new bridge. In order to make good use of the cold season, the new bridge was not prefabricated on site but in a steel plant in the Westerwald. In a plant in Duisburg, the huge steel blank received the necessary finishing touches with corrosion protection and paint coating.
In an overnight operation, the 32-meter-long, 4.80-meter-wide and approximately 52-ton giant arrived in Frankfurt on March 26 as a special transport and was lifted into place with a mobile crane. For the remaining two months until the opening, ASE constructed the abutments as well as the connection to the pedestrian and bicycle paths.
The new replacement structure, which is now more robust than its predecessor, is part of the bridge construction program of the city of Frankfurt am Main. The bridge cost around 1.34 million euros, of which the state of Hesse is covering around 715,000 euros.
