The Carola Bridge in Dresden, which partially collapsed three months ago, must be completely demolished. "The damage is so severe that it is not possible to put the still-standing bridges A and B back into operation," the city announced on Wednesday regarding the latest findings of scientific investigations into their condition. It is now clear that a replacement is "urgently needed".
According to the report by independent bridge expert Steffen Marx, the cause of the collapse of span C was "hydrogen-induced stress corrosion cracking", which, in conjunction with material fatigue caused by the traffic load, led to the failure of numerous tendons. The corrosion damage already occurred during the bridge construction, it said.
