Pedestrian and Cyclist Bridge near Rheinfelden, Germany

The construction of a new motorway between Weil am Rhein, Germany, and Schaffhausen, Switzerland, called for a pedestrian and cyclist overpass near Rheinfelden. The bridge follows a straight line, and crosses the motorway at an angle of 90 degrees. The minimum clearance between the motorway and the bridge is 6.26 m. A width of 2.60 m between the railings was planned for the bridge, and the longitudinal slope of the bridge is a constant 1.334%. The development of new gluing methods (for girders, veneered laminated woods and derived timber products) and the application of close-graded surfaces have opened up new possibilities for timber structures. In this article, the construction of a timber bridge with length of about 63 m over the federal A98 motorway is presented.