The Mur River Wooden Bridge, Austria

In 1989, the construction of a bridge spanning the Mur River was proposed to connect the communities of St. Georgen/Murau and St. Lorenzen/Murau. The successful design is a wooden bridge with a parabolic three-hinged arch. The arch functions as the main girder as well as a principal aesthetic element. Connection elements are entirely of steel. The Mur River Bridge is classified as Class I, in accordance with Austrian code ÖNORM B 4002. This means each traffic direction must sustain a load on adjacent lanes of a 25 t truck, or a 60 t tractor, and a 5 kNm² live load on the remaining areas. At its completion, this wooden arch bridge will be the largest of its kind in Europe.