Locking of the Elster Bridge in Barthmühle: Chaos for commuters until November!

Locking of the Elster Bridge in Barthmühle: Chaos for commuters until November!

Barthmühle, Deutschland - in Barthmühle, the district road remains closed by the end of November 2025, and this once again causes trouble and incomprehension among residents and commuters. The Elster Bridge, which was only opened six months ago, has already turned out to be a problem area. The direct connection between Jocke and Röttis is once again not usable, which ensures many detours and creates an unfortunate situation, like the Free press reported.

The new bridge over the White Elster was released for traffic on December 19, 2024. But the joy about it did not last long. The old bridge was originally closed in November 2022 due to strong underwashes, and the subsequent detours were a real test of patience for the residents. They had to endure the uncertain fate of their connection for over two years and adjust to longer journeys. The current block has now exacerbated the image again, as the SSF Ingenieure explain.

The consequences of the blocking

Now the residents face challenges again: the blocking of the bridge affects not only the residents of Jocke and Röttis, but also the important access to the Barthmühle train station. After all, this bridge is the only connection to the train station and therefore crucial for commuters and travelers. The bottom threshold of the bridge has been optimized so that the new construction meets the requirements of the Gera - Weillitz route, which, however, proves to be less possible due to the immediate new blocking.

The construction time of the new bridge was just five months, which shows the efficiency of the project. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that when it comes to the idea of ​​this infrastructure, we are always confronted with numerous problems. The entire project is also closely linked to the renovation of the historic Elstertal Bridge, which does not make things easier. Every building has its challenges and the selection of materials plays an important role - a topic that is also important in the context of many other bridges in Germany.

bridges in Germany - an overview

In Germany, the infrastructure includes around 39,500 bridges on the network of federal highways. There are a total of approximately 51,360 bridge substructures with a total area of ​​over 30 million m². So that our bridges can withstand modern requirements, numerous new buildings and renovations take place, with a particularly large proportion of German bridges made of clamping concrete. The building culture shows that in the new federal states, as in this country in Barthmühle, modernization is an important topic. The Federal Ministry of Transport underlines how wide the challenges in bridge construction are and that a good hand is always necessary in order to make the transport infrastructure future-proof.