The Theodor-Heuss-Rhine River Bridge (Theodor-Heuss-Rheinbrücke) also known as the Autobahnbrücke Frankenthal (

Autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

Bridge, Frankenthal) is a bridge that spans the

Rhine River The Rhine ( ) is one of the major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Swiss-Austrian border. From Lake Cons ...

along Autobahn 6 and connects the regions of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

with Baden-Wuerttemberg. The four-lane bridge crosses the upper Rhine north of the cities of

Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning "Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig's Port upon the Rhine"; Palatine German dialects, Palatine German: ''Ludwichshafe''), is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the German state of Rh ...

and

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

in an east-west direction on the motorway connecting

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

Kaiserslautern Kaiserslautern (; ) is a town in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfurt am Main, 666 kilometers (414 m ...

, Mannheim, and

Viernheim Viernheim () is a midsize industrial town on Mannheim's outskirts and is found in the Rhine Neckar Area, Rhine Neckar agglomeration and economic area. It is the second biggest town in Kreis Bergstraße, Bergstraße district in Hesse, Germany. Since ...

. The length of the entire span, which consists of the main river span and two land spans, is over a kilometer long. The land span on the western side is somewhat longer, because the west bank is flatter than the east. The bridge construction began in 1938. On 12 December 1940, a major accident occurred when the frame collapsed. The construction was then suspended because of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Work on the bridge resumed in 1948 and was completed in 1964. The bridge has no shoulders along the roadway which results in kilometer-long traffic jams during maintenance work and after accidents. A walkway is available along the center of the bridge that allows walkers and cyclists to cross the Rhine. Staircases in each bridge abutment allow access to the walkway.

External links

* Deck arch bridges Road bridges in Germany Bridges completed in 1964 Bridges over the Rhine Bridges in Rhineland-Palatinate Bridges in Hesse Theodor Heuss {{Germany-bridge-struct-stub