Europa Bridge
Europa Bridge
Europabrücke
Innsbruck, Tirol, Austria
623 feet high / 190 meters high
650 foot span / 198 meter span
1964
Image by Jan Vonk.
Completed in 1963, the Europabrücke was the highest bridge in Europe for 10 years until 1974 when the Sfalassa Gorge and Italia Viaducts opened on Italy’s A3 motorway. All 3 of these structures were exceeded in 2004 when France opened the Millau Viaduct, now Europe’s highest bridge.
Spanning 623 feet (190 mtrs) above the Sill River, the “Bridge of Europe” is located just south of Innsbruck on the Brenner Highway. The superstructure of the bridge consists of a massive steel box girder with a central span of 650 feet (198 mtrs), still one of the largest in Europe. The enormous girder reaches a depth of 25 feet (7.7 mtrs). Running across it are 6 lanes of traffic requiring a roadway width of 75 feet (23 mtrs). Equally impressive are the massive concrete piers that drop almost to the floor of the valley. Pier number 2 measures 476 feet (145 meters) high from the foundation to the underside of the box beam or 518 feet (158 meters) from the lower side of the pier foundation. In 2003, several sensors were placed throughout the structure to monitor accelerations, movements, temperature changes and other fatigue related stresses that might shorten the life of the bridge.
The span is also the home of Europe’s highest legal bridge bungee operation. Located on a platform under the center of the main span, the thrilling plunge is a spectacular way to take in the massive scale of the bridge and the open space below it. You can check out the bungy operators at http://www.europabruecke.at/content.html and http://www.bungyjump.cz/indexe.html.
Sadly, the construction of Europabrücke took the lives of 23 men, an unusually high number for such a modern bridge. Included among those were 3 of the bridges’ engineers, Herbert Henning, Hermann Staf and Hans Gaidoschik. A chapel designed by Hubert Prachensky was built on a hill on the west side of the bridge to commemorate the lives lost.
Europabrücke Elevation
Europabrücke satellite image.
Europabrücke satellite image.
