Long mandatory break Demolition of Viktoria bridge resumed
Bonn · After works were halted for quite a while, the demolition of the Viktoria bridge continues. Here’s an update on the status of the works and the consequences.
A construction site of this size demands flexibility - by the city council when it hit problems during the execution; by the train company whose trains have to wriggle past the diggers; by motorists who suddenly find new road markings in the mornings. All of this happened at the Viktoria bridge recently. For the past two weeks, the demolition work has resumed. This is the current status.
The assignment: The assignment for the demolition of the eastern part of the bridge was decided upon per urgent motion. As reported, there was no proposal by any company after a nationwide call for bids. Only after a new call for bids was announced, the job was awarded to a company. Later construction tasks will have to be contracted out in the same way.
Currents works: The eastern part of the bridge will be demolished at a cost of 800,000 Euro. The works should be finished by December. The head of the civil engineering office, Peter Esch, says: „That way, more steps can be taken in time, to keep on track with the agreed milestones by the Deutsche Bahn in the coming year. Those milestones have an effect on the entire train service in Western Germany and need to be filed for two years in advance.“ These narrow time slots make the planning of the call for bids difficult for the city council.
Next steps: During the milestones agreed on with the Deutsche Bahn for June 2018 the pouring of the bridge foundation for the area of the train trail will take place, according to Peter Esch. What’s special about it: As opposed to „ordinary construction sites“ the closing of the tracks gets announced first and the works will be scheduled to suit that date. If it seems like there is no work done on the Viktoria bridge for a while, that could well be that a certain time buffer was not necessary. When the Eastern part of the bridge will be supplied with the new superstructure, the roadway, the city council will divert the traffic onto that side - and the whole thing gets repeated on the Western side. The works might collide with the renewal of the „Tausendfüßler“ (A 565), which according to city officials „may not be entirely avoidable“.
Traffic routing: According to the city council, the traffic interruptions are „rather unremarkable“, because there is always at least one lane available for both directions. This will not change during the coming construction phases, confirms Peter Esch. Some motorists were confused at the start of the week because of the provisional markings on the Wittelsbacher Ring. The city council admitted that those were made by mistake and have been removed in the meantime.
Costs: For the bridge plus ramp 24.6 million Euro have been calculated. According to the current status, that estimate will be held. An increase in costs, according to officials, may „not be ruled out for definite“ though.
Original text: Rüdiger Franz
Translation: Mareike Graepel
