Rhine bridge Hard–Fußach, Road bridge in Hard and Fußach, Austria.

The Rhine bridge Hard-Fußach is a modern road structure spanning approximately 256 meters across the Alpine Rhine to connect the municipalities of Hard and Fußach. It accommodates two traffic lanes for cars and separate pathways for buses, pedestrians, and cyclists, each with distinct widths for different users.

A steel truss bridge 255 m long, with a 90 m Schwedler truss over the main span and a roadway slab of vaults designed by Joseph Melan, was built in 1898–1899 after the Fußach cut created the New Rhine. In 1971 it was replaced by a 255 m steel plate-girder bridge, one of whose piers stood in the middle channel. Inspections in 2005 and 2011 found it in poor condition, and in 2010 the Vorarlberg state government decided to prepare a new build. The first sod was turned in September 2020, the new bridge was completed in 2022, and the old one was then demolished, with about 480 tonnes of material separated into steel and concrete and almost fully recycled.

The bridge carries the Schweizer Straße (L 202), an 11 km road linking Bregenz in Austria with St. Margrethen in Switzerland, and it also carries the European routes E43 and E60. It is the last bridge over the Alpine Rhine before the river reaches Lake Constance.

Walking or cycling across the bridge allows you to use the dedicated paths designed for these modes of travel. Keep in mind that winter months may involve ongoing maintenance work, so checking conditions beforehand is wise.

The 1971 replacement bridge had one pier standing in the middle channel of the New Rhine, a flaw the new structure avoids: its spans of 50 + 125 + 50 + 30 m keep every pier out of the main channel. Demolition of the old bridge yielded about 480 tonnes of material, split into steel and concrete and almost fully recycled.