The

Rapperswil Rapperswil (Swiss German: or ;Andres Kristol, ''Rapperswil SG (See)'' in: ''Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS, LSG)'', Centre de dial ...

Seedamm is the artificial

causeway A causeway is a track, road or railway on the upper point of an embankment across "a low, or wet place, or piece of water". It can be constructed of earth, masonry, wood, or concrete. One of the earliest known wooden causeways is the Sweet T ...

at the narrowest area of

Lake Zurich Lake Zurich (, ; ) is a lake in Switzerland, extending southeast of the city of Zurich. Depending on the context, Lake Zurich or can be used to describe the lake as a whole, or just that part of the lake downstream of the Hurden peninsula and ...

between Hurden (SZ) and Rapperswil (SG). The structure contains two

bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

segments and is approximately long. The Seedamm carries a road () and a

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

across the lake, with the railway being used by the S5 and S40 services of

Zurich S-Bahn The Zurich S-Bahn () system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zurich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, Schaffhausen, Schwyz, ...

and by

Südostbahn The Südostbahn (German language, German, ) – commonly abbreviated to SOB – is a Switzerland, Swiss railway company, and a network in Central Switzerland, Central and Eastern Switzerland. It resulted from the merger of the Schweizerische S ...

's Voralpen Express. The Melide causeway across a narrow section at

Lake Lugano Lake Lugano ( or , from ; ) is a glacial lake which is situated on the border between southern Switzerland and northern Italy. The lake, named after the city of Lugano, is situated between Lake Como and Lago Maggiore. It was cited for the first t ...

is comparable to the Seedamm.

Geography and location

The Seedamm connects the

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

cantons of

Schwyz Schwyz (; ; ) is a town and the capital of the canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. The Federal Charter of 1291 or ''Bundesbrief'', the charter that eventually led to the foundation of Switzerland, can be seen at the ''Bundesbriefmuseum''. The of ...

(Hurden) and St. Gallen (Rapperswil). The village of Hurden is located on a

peninsula A peninsula is a landform that extends from a mainland and is only connected to land on one side. Peninsulas exist on each continent. The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula. Etymology The word ''peninsula'' derives , . T ...

protruding from the south shore of Lake Zurich. This peninsula, a

terminal moraine A terminal moraine, also called an end moraine, is a type of moraine that forms at the terminal (edge) of a glacier, marking its maximum advance. At this point, debris that has accumulated by plucking and abrasion, has been pushed by the front e ...

, was formed by an

ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

(Linth glacier) ca. 17'000 years ago. The Hurden peninsula and the Seedamm divide the main part of

from its upper part, the Obersee. The Seedamm runs across an area of shallow water. The ''

Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden is a wooden pedestrian bridge between the city of Rapperswil and the village of Hurden crossing the Obersee (the upper part of Lake Zurich) in Switzerland. On 6 April 2001, the footbridge was opened. With a leng ...

'', a wooden pedestrian bridge built in 2001, is located to the east of the Seedamm. The

mire A peatland is a type of wetland whose soils consist of Soil organic matter, organic matter from decaying plants, forming layers of peat. Peatlands arise because of incomplete decomposition of organic matter, usually litter from vegetation, du ...

landscape '' Frauenwinkel'' is situated on the western side of Hurden and on the southern lakeshore between Hurden and Pfäffikon. The islands

Lützelau Lützelau (Old High German: ''little island'') is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Ufenau, in Lake Zürich in Switzerland between Rapperswil ( away) and Freienbach ( away). Geography Lützelau lies in Höfe district in the C ...

and

Ufenau Ufenau is an island located, with the neighbouring island of Lützelau, in Lake Zürich in Switzerland between Freienbach ( away) and Rapperswil ( away). Highlights on Ufenau include ''St. Peter & Paul'' church, ''St. Martin's'' chapel, and Ufena ...

are located close to the ''Frauenwinkel''. Remains of Prehistoric lake crossings were found at Freienbach–Hurden Rosshorn, an archaeological site located at one of the Seedamm's bridges.

History

The Seedamm's predecessor was a historical wooden bridge that was first completed in 1360 and rebuilt several times. For centuries, this connection had been part of the so-called ''Jakobsweg'', an old pilgrimage route. In 1873 the Swiss federal parliament approved the construction of the today's stone causeway and bridge. Construction works began in 1875 and finished in 1878 (in the same year the existing wooden bridge was removed). The construction cost the sum of 1,462,000 Swiss Francs, of which 1,100,000 had been paid by the city of Rapperswil. In 1878 the Zürichsee-Gotthardbahn established the railway line from Rapperswil railway station via Seedamm. In 1939 and 1951 the now called ''Seedamm'' causeway was reinforced to meet growing demand. Whilst the bridge sections of the Seedamm allow smaller vessels to pass under them, the main shipping channel between the lower and upper halves of Lake Zurich now passes through the Hurden ship canal, which was cut through the base of the Hurden peninsular in 1942/43, thus placing the village of Hurden on an artificial island. This canal is spanned by the ''Sternenbrücke'', which also carries both road and railway. This causeway was renovated between March and November 2010 to allow 40 tonne trucks to cross the Seedamm. At the beginning of the 21st-century, about 75 passenger trains and 24,000 vehicles crossed the causeway and the town of Rapperswil-Jona every day, and as of 2016, an average of 26,000 vehicles. In order to relieve the traffic on road and rail during rush hours, Rapperswil-Jona is expected to participate as the first Swiss city in a pilot project for so-called Mobility pricing.

Literature

* Hans Rathgeb: ''Brücken über den See''. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Fussgänger-Holzsteg Rapperswil-Hurden, Rapperswil 2001.

References

External links

{{coord, 47, 13, 16, N, 8, 48, 40, E, region:CH-SG_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Buildings and structures in the canton of Schwyz Buildings and structures in Rapperswil-Jona Tourist attractions in Rapperswil-Jona Buildings and structures in the canton of Zürich Causeways in Europe Cultural property of national significance in the canton of St. Gallen Cultural property of national significance in the canton of Schwyz Geography of Switzerland Lake Zurich Railway bridges in Switzerland Road bridges in Switzerland Transport in Switzerland Schwyz–St. Gallen border Freienbach

Geography and location

History

Literature

See also

References

External links