Der König ist tot. Lang lebe der König.

The king is dead. Long live the king. The demolition of the old Sinntal Bridge near Bad Brückenau (Germany)

As part of the new construction replacement of the Sinntal bridge on the A7 motorway at Bad Brückenau on 22 June 2013 the old Sinntal bridge with a length of 770 m was demolished by blasting. Due to the lack of experience in Germany with the blasting demolition of bridges of this size an appropriate demolition concept including static calculations was presented to the client, which also evaluated the effect of vibrations on adjacent buildings and structures. Since both bridges were only a few meters apart, a technical review of the planning documents, a comprehensive preservation of evidence of selected structural and technical facilities as well as comparative vibration predictions and measurements according to DIN 4150 were necessary. This task was given to the Bluhm Partner AG in March 2013. This article gives an overview of the demolition concept, the preservation of evidence and the vibration predictions and measurements.