Alexander-M.-Patch-Bridge, Road bridge connecting Mainz and Wiesbaden, Germany.

The Alexander-M.-Patch-Bridge was a temporary road bridge over the Rhine at Mainz, built from autumn 1945 at the site of a wartime pontoon bridge about 500 metres downstream of the destroyed road bridge, in line with Kaiserstraße. Its 27 supports were steel pipes; the deck combined steel sections with multiple layers of wooden beams and planks. The central span over the narrowed navigation channel consisted of two steel truss sections, each weighing 280 tonnes.

The 1882–1885 road bridge at this site was widened in 1931–1934 and blown up by retreating German troops on 17 March 1945. From autumn 1945 the 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment built a temporary bridge on the line of the earlier pontoon crossing, inaugurated on 18 January 1946. It stayed in service until the Theodor-Heuss-Bridge reopened on 15 May 1950, was restricted to certain hours in the late 1950s, closed after the Schiersteiner and Weisenauer bridges opened on 12 December 1962, and dismantled from spring 1963.

The bridge carried the name of General Alexander M. Patch, commander of the US Seventh Army, whose troops took Mainz in March 1945. Its dedication on 18 January 1946 took place in the presence of American and French occupation representatives, and the crossing stood where the wartime pontoon bridge had been, in line with the Kaiserstraße.

The bridge was designed for 40 tonnes in two-way traffic or 70 tonnes in one-way traffic. From the late 1950s it was only opened at certain times of day with reduced load limits, and it was finally closed to traffic after the Schiersteiner and Weisenauer bridges opened on 12 December 1962. Demolition waited until after the last ice drift, from 27 December 1962 to 7 March 1963.

Engineers from the American 333rd Engineer Special Service Regiment built this crossing using steel pipes for the main supports, which was a practical solution for post-war reconstruction. This engineering choice allowed them to complete a working bridge quickly with materials that were available at the time.