Altstadtbrücke Meißen, Road bridge in Meissen, Germany

Altstadtbrücke Meissen is a steel road bridge spanning 205 meters across the Elbe River with three traffic lanes and separate paths for pedestrians and cyclists. The structure is roughly 18 meters wide and designed to allow passage for river traffic while serving the city's road network.

A wooden bridge first stood at this location in 1160, serving as a crucial crossing for centuries. The current steel structure was completed in 2000 to replace the deteriorated predecessor.

The right-bank settlement at the bridgehead has been called Vorbrücke since the wooden bridges of the Middle Ages, and the name survives as the district's designation today. From 1889 to 1932 a tram line ran across the crossing, and in 1954 the bridge was renamed Brücke der Deutsch-Sowjetischen Freundschaft.

The crossing accommodates cars, pedestrians, and cyclists with clearly separated pathways for each group. During high water, the clearance height is approximately 6.4 meters, allowing most river traffic to pass underneath.

Floating cranes were used during construction to install bridge sections while preserving the original support structures underneath. This technique was necessary to maintain river traffic throughout the building process.