Bahnhofsbrücke Aue, Prestressed concrete bridge in Aue, Germany.
The Bahnhofsbrücke Aue is a 308-metre-long, 12-metre-wide prestressed concrete road bridge on the Bundesstraße 169. Its ten spans cross the Schlemaer Straße, the Zwickauer Mulde, the Bahnhofsstraße, the railway station tracks and the Straße Am Bahnhof. The main opening over the tracks is 69 metres wide, formed by a 31.5-metre suspended beam on two 18.75-metre cantilevers.
Built from December 1935, the bridge was Germany's first prestressed concrete beam bridge. Dyckerhoff & Widmann of Dresden used a prestressing method patented by Franz Dischinger in 1934. On 5 June 1937 Martin Mutschmann opened it as the Adolf-Hitler-Brücke. After 1945 the pillar sculptures were removed; in 1993 the corroded superstructure was demolished and rebuilt in the historic construction method, completed in 1995.
The bridge is named after the adjacent railway station, whose tracks it crosses on a 69-metre main span. At its 1937 opening it was dedicated as the Adolf-Hitler-Brücke during the Saxon Gauwoche of the NSDAP; the name has since been dropped in favour of Bahnhofsbrücke. Four 10-metre stamped-concrete obelisks once stood at the bridge ends, carrying cast-iron state emblems designed by city building officer Hasse; the pillar sculptures were removed after 1945 and replaced by illuminated cubes, which were themselves taken away during the 1993–1995 reconstruction.
The crossing is open daily to vehicle and pedestrian traffic with no special opening hours or closures. Visitors can access the bridge at any time and should be aware of regular traffic, especially during rush hours in the morning and evening.
The structure was pioneering in its use of prestressed concrete for German bridge construction and ranks among the earliest examples of this technique being applied. This engineering innovation made it possible to achieve longer spans while using less material overall.
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