Between Kennedy Bridge and Rheingasse Renovation work begins in the Rhine waterfront area
The paths along the Rhine below the Bonn Opera House are to be renovated by March 2020. What the redesign will ultimately look like, however, will also depend on what subsidies will be made available. Benches and flower pots will eventually disappear from the area.
Workers have begun redeveloping the pathway on the banks of the Rhine south of the Kennedy Bridge. By March of next year at the latest, the waterfront promenade to the KD Pavilion should be open again and presentable for visitors in Beethoven's anniversary year, promises David Baier, a department head in Bonn's Bureau for Urban Greenery.
The partially collapsed wall below the opera house had already been closed off for months. Now the entire area is fenced in. In addition to seven trees, bushes and shrubs were also removed, concrete slabs were picked up and the parts of the wall which had been damaged by roots were removed. "In order to comply with the preservation order, we will rebuild the wall true to the original (design),” emphasizes Baier. However, this will require major work in the ground beneath.
Work should bring an improvement in quality
All in all, the Bureau for Urban Greenery and the commissioned planning office S+P, which had already been involved in the redesign of the banks of the Beuel River Rhine, are striving to find a solution that is reasonable. On the one hand, it should not pre-empt the planned redesign of the waterfront area up to the Second Ferry Route. On the other hand, the work should still bring about an improvement in quality and be sustainable.
In the coming months, the wall will be rebuilt and the two stairways renewed. And a pathway made of natural materials, running along the avenue of trees, will replace the uneven paving slabs. "This will also improve the existing trees," says Baier.
Rhine waterfront area: benches and concrete pots to be removed
The concrete benches and flower pots will be disappearing. Raised flower beds are to be planted in a more attractive and insect-friendly way. Until a decision is made about the future appearance of the waterfront area, the site will be furnished with the wooden benches and waste bins that are commonly seen in Bonn. Gaps between trees will be filled with two Hungarian oaks, two tulip trees and three field maples. As soon as the urban greenery office has cleared the construction site, the civil engineering office wants to renew the broken asphalt between the water gauge building and the KD pavilion.
After the Beethoven celebrations in 2021, the actual redesign is to take place in three construction phases. The prerequisite, however, is that a funding proposal is approved by the state. The amount is estimated at 22.5 million euros. Since financing was not made possible under the Regionale 2010 program, the plans have been on hold and the city has only carried out essential repairs.
(Orig. text: Martin Wein; Translation: ck)
