The parts of Dresden's Carola Bridge that are still standing are now to be removed over the next few months without pontoons and floating out the middle sections. According to the city administration and construction company, the demolition of the intact but collapse-prone traffic trains A and B is only possible with the help of embankments into the Elbe due to the expected low water levels. Alternative concepts originally planned were therefore not feasible - a total of eleven variants were examined.
Dam bed backfill for bridge section in the river
According to the announcement, a drop bed will now initially be backfilled over the navigation channel, with a total of around 13,000 tons of material. It consists of armourstones, empty pipes and sand as well as pipes through which the river will flow. The middle section of the bridge will then be lowered and crushed. As the flow of the Elbe under the bridge has to be kept clear in sections, this is being done in stages.
The contracted construction company expects the work on the middle section to take ten weeks. During this time, the Elbe in Dresden will remain completely closed to shipping and boat traffic in the area of the structure. Navigation upstream and downstream of the restricted zone around the structure is still possible.
Six-day week for demolition work - bridge to be removed at the end of the year
The work on the middle section is expected to last ten weeks. During this time, the Elbe will remain closed to shipping in this area. The remains of the structure will then be removed from above the riverbanks. Work will reportedly be carried out six days a week to ensure that the Carola Bridge is gone by the end of the year.
On the night of 11 September 2024, the western traffic line of the Carola Bridge collapsed unexpectedly over a length of around 100 meters. Since then, the structure from the GDR era has been closed - and is in acute danger of collapse due to further fractures in the special prestressed concrete construction. The stability of the bridge remains is permanently monitored and shipping is restricted.
The remaining debris from Train C, which was affected by the collapse, has already been demolished in recent weeks. Since Monday, the construction road has been widened for the work on bridge trains A and B - yellow buoys in the river visually indicate to commercial and recreational shipping that passage underneath is prohibited.
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