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Gl o b a l Tr a n s p o r t At l a s

GTA-10 8 Ger m any, Fr ance

Drei lnderbrcke

Ser ies 1 - Global Tr anspor t

Notes

GTA-108 June 2012 Page 1

Germany, France

bridges, cycling, pedestrians

In troduct ion

The "Dreilnderbrcke" (3-countries bridge) is a pedestrian and cycle

footbridge over the River Rhine. It links the German town of Weil am

Rhein with the French town of Hunigue, and crosses the Rhine close to

the Swiss border.

The usable width of the 248 m. long bridge is only divided into clear

pedestrian and cyclist sections at each end, where the cyclist section

leads to a ramp, the pedestrian section to steps.

A lift is available on the French side to take pedestrians from ground

level to the level of the bridge deck., although it was not working on the

day of the traffic count.

The main structural members are hexagonal cross-section steel box

girders. Construction costs were around Eur. 9 million. The structure

has a single span of 230m, the longest span for a pedestrian/cyclist

bridge in the world. The bridge continues to be the subject of many

major awards. For example in March 2008 it was awarded Germanys

national bridge construction prize.

Other Notes

The German side of the bridge ends close to a busy shopping complex

with a multistorey car park, cinema and other facilities. Presently the

French side of the bridge ends in next to a small public garden and a

minor residential area.

The Weil am Rhein branch of the pro-cycling organisation (igvelo) has

said that the bridge is very popular. They are not aware of any

pedestrian/ cyclist conflicts. The busiest periods in terms of movement

across the bridge are Saturdays and Sundays, although Fridays are also

quite busy.

Source: Robert Bartlett

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Global Transport Atlas

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The pedestrian lift at the French side of the bridge was

reportedly not working on the day of the traffic count. (2008).

In June 2012 a sign on the lift said it was closed for an

undetermined period.

widths (approximate) :

cycle ramp 2800 mm

pedestrian steps 2400 mm

main deck 5800 mm

bridge length 248 m

max. span 230 m

The maximum height of the supporting arch above the level of

the river is 26 metres.

The table below gives the results of a thumbnail traffic count on

09. May 2008 between 16.00 and 16.30. Figures are estimated

hourly flows.

Flows per hour To France To Germany Total 2-way

pedestrians 258 250 508

cyclists 44 60 104

wheelchairs 4 2 6

total 306 312 618

Table 1: thumbnail traffic count, May 2008

Table 2: weblinks

Topic Note Link

Designer designer www.feichtingerarchitectes.com

Weil am Rhein Local authority, Germany side of the bridge www.weil-am-rhein.de

Huningue Local authority, French side of the bridge http://www.ville-huningue.fr/

Visit also

Global transport atlas http://globaltransportatlas.weebly.com/index.html

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GTA docum ents seri es

Global Transport Atlas is a project with two aims. One isto encourage people around the world to share examples

of how they actually use transport in their daily lives. Theother is to compare and improve the design of transport

infrastructure. There are the following GTA document

series:

Series 1 - global transport notes

A collection of papers on transport infrastructure and

vehicles from various countries, prepared by various

authors and contributors. Typical size 2 to 3 pages.

Series 3 - discussion papers

Papers with arguments and ideas on different aspects of

modern transport and transport infrastructure.

Series 7 - Dimensions of vehicles

Transport infrastructure has to be defined with an idea of

the size and types of vehicle which will use it. This series

looks into the dimensions of different types of vehicle at

different periods of time. Papers include technical

discussion notes and example dimensions. Typical size 20

pages and more.

Cover n otes and Di sclai m er

This is a research document. The best efforts have been

made to make sure the figures are correct. However no

liability can be taken for any of the details, information oranalysis in this document.

The layout, look and feel of this document is copyright.

Photographs are copyright of REB unless otherwise stated.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons

Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. To view a copy

of this license, visit

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/

or send a letter to Creative Commons, 444 Castro Street,

Suite 900, Mountain View, California, 94041, USA.

H istor y and Change log

First version published October 2008. There were two

variations, one with and one without an embedded video

clip.

Version 108.02 (June 2012) - this version and version

number, with modified layout and minor modifications to

the content.

Contact

We welcome comments on this paper, and also on

new developments in other countries in this field.

Email: global.transport.atlas@gmail.com

About the author:

Robert Bartlett is an experienced transportation and

urban development studies engineer with over 25

years of professional experience. Current engineering

work: includes technical research in highway design

standards and applications in areas such as urbanplanning and highway engineering. Interests include

applied GIS