Magdeburg Water Bridge
By Brynn English
Background Information
--The Magdeburg Bridge spans the Elbe River and connects the
Elbe-Havel Canal to the Mittelland Canal.
--Only open to river barges with loads to transport.
--Engineers first dreamt of joining the two waterways as far
back as 1919. Construction started in the 1930s, but was
halted by WWII and started up again in 1997.
--Six years, 24,000 metric tons, and 68,000 cubic meters later,
the bridge was completed (October of 2003).
Background Information (cont.)
--The Elbe-Havel and Mittelland canals had previously met
near Magdeburg but on opposite sides of the Elbe.
--Ships moving between the two had to take a 7.5 mi detour
descending from the Mittelland Canal through the
Rothensee boat lift into the Elbe, then sail downstream on
the river, before entering the Elbe-Havel Canal through
Niegripp lock.
--The Bridge is not tolled, and never will be.
Building the Bridge
--Unique in style
--24,000 metric tons of steel
--68,000 cubic meters of concrete
--918 meters (3,012 feet) long
--34 meters (111.5 feet) wide
--Water is 4.25 m (14 feet) deep
--90.00 m x 6.25 m of clearance
--€500 billion to build
Interesting Facts
--The bridge only needed to be
designed to withstand the
weight of the water. The
amount of water that is
displaced weighs the same as
the ship, so it does not depend
on how heavily it is loaded.
--Shipping can often come to a halt on the stretch if the river’s water
mark falls to unacceptably low levels.
Interesting Facts (cont.)
--Ships can carry loads of up
to 1,350 metric tons – the
equivalent of 50 truckloads –
over the bridge. Previously,
ships could only be loaded
with 800 metric tons.
--Low water levels in the Elbe often prevented fully-laden canal barges
from making this crossing, requiring the time-consuming off-loading
of cargo.
References
Kaushik. (2011) The Incredible Magdeburg Water Bridge in Germany. Amusing
Planet. Retrieved 14 May 2012 from <http://www.amusingplanet.com/
2011/04/incredible-magdeburg-water-bridge-in.html>.
Pax. (2011) Magdeburg Water Bridge. Rumor Mills. Retrieved 14 May 2012 from
<http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/archive.cgi?read=208970>.
References (cont.)
(2012) Magdeburg Water Bridge - Germany. Blogspot.com. State of Technology,
Retrieved 14 May 2012 from <http://state-of technology.blogspot.com/
2012/03/magdeburg-water-bridge-germany.html>.
(2003) Europe's Largest Water Bridge Opens. DW. Retrieved 14 May 2012 from
<http://www.dw.de/dw/article/0,,990878,00.html>.