Mainbrücke Volkach, Road bridge in Volkach, Germany
Mainbrücke Volkach is a steel tied-arch bridge built between 2009 and 2011, carrying two lanes of the Staatsstraße 2260 plus a shared foot and cycle path across the Main at kilometre 306. Its arch has no piers in the navigation channel, and the span is 535 metres long.
A first stone arch bridge, built by Würzburg contractor Friedrich Buchner for 245,000 marks, opened on 21 August 1892 with six 30 m arches and a Nepomuk statue; a bridge toll was levied until 1938. German troops blew it up on 7 April 1945, and a ferry took over until the new bridge opened on 6 March 1949. That steel Roth-Waagner truss carried road traffic and the Mainschleifenbahn line until rail use ended in 1991; it was replaced by the present arch bridge, opened on 3 September 2011.
The bridge is named after the Main river it crosses between Volkach and Astheim. Until the first bridge opened in 1892, the Astheim ferry carried people across; a bridge toll was collected until 1938 at a small toll house on the Astheim side. Since 2011 the 3 m steel sculpture "Nepomuk-Strudel" by Munich sculptor Werner Mally stands on the Volkach side, recalling the Nepomuk statue of the 1892 bridge.
The bridge is accessible to pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles with safe routes for all types of traffic crossing the river. Visitors can cross it anytime as it serves as a vital transportation link and remains passable throughout the year.
On the Volkach side of the 2011 bridge stands the "Nepomuk-Strudel", a steel sculpture about 3 m tall by Munich sculptor Werner Mally, installed under the Kunst am Bau programme. Its name recalls the Nepomuk statue that once stood on the middle pier of the 1892 stone bridge.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 94,638 contributors worldwide.