The Itz Valley Autobahn Bridge (German: Itztalbrücke) is a twin Autobahn bridge carrying the Autobahn A73 across the Itz Valley directly to the south of Autobahn Junction 9 (

Rödental Rödental () is a town in the district of Coburg, northern Bavaria, Germany, 7 km northeast of Coburg. Rödental was the name given to a group of municipalities that united 1971, including Mönchröden, Oeslau, Einberg, Oberwohlsbach and U ...

exit), and close to

Coburg Coburg ( , ) is a Town#Germany, town located on the Itz (river), Itz river in the Upper Franconia region of Bavaria, Germany. Long part of one of the Thuringian states of the Ernestine duchies, Wettin line, it joined Bavaria by popular vote only ...

on the northern edge of

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The Autobahn bridge, which has an approximately north-south axis, has been built approximately 25 meters to the west of the Itz Valley Railway Bridge. However, whereas the Autobahn bridge has been in use since 2007, the railway bridge has been unused since its completion in 2005 because the high speed line of which the railway bridge is part, though started in 1996, has been deprioritised and is not expected to be completed for some time. Constructed between 2004 and 2007 for a total cost of around €31.5 million, the Autobahn bridge is constructed of pre-stressed steel-concrete box girder sections. It is the longest bridge on the Autobahn A73, having a total length of and a maximum height above the valley floor of .

Groundwork and substructure

The

abutments An abutment is the Bridge#Structure types, substructure at the ends of a bridge Span (architecture), span or dam supporting its Bridge#Structure types, superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end that provide vertical and l ...

and pillars supporting the bridge are themselves supported by

piles Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''he ...

each of which has a diameter of and a depth of between and

Superstructure

The bridge comprises two carriageways each of which as its own concrete pillars and each of which is constructed as a continuous beam with a hollow box-section with a constant height of . The concrete beams incorporate 22 internal and 4 external steel reinforcement tendon-supports. The overall length between abutments is . The total width of the two carriageways from one side to the other is , but that includes a gap between the two parallel bridges which is wide.

References

{{reflist, 35em Box girder bridges Road bridges in Germany Buildings and structures in Coburg Buildings and structures completed in 2007 Itz basin 2009 establishments in Germany Bridges in Bavaria