Rappenloch Bridge
Marte.Marte Architects – Dornbirn, Austria
Southeast of Dornbirn, a narrow, ten-kilometer-long mountain road winds through roughly hewn rock tunnels, over stone bridges and galleries. It climbs approximately 500 meters in altitude to the mountain village of Ebnit, situated at an elevation of 900 to 1,050 meters. It is the only access road that is passable year-round. Heavy rain and rockfalls take a toll on the nearly 100-year-old road, requiring continuous repairs to the road surface and bridges. Three bridges—two arch bridges and one slab bridge, built in the 1930s—span deep gorges in quick succession. Repairing and reinforcing the severely damaged structures would not have been economically viable. Instead the have been replaced with two new arch bridges made of light exposed concrete: the Schanerloch bridge and the Schaufeltobel bridge, both designed by Marte.Marte Architects.
The new Rappenloch Bridge, is a single-track, prestressed concrete structure. The total length of the superstructure is about 66m. Due to the Dornbirner Ache running below, a free-span shoring had to be used to build the bridge. Appropriate bearing surfaces were provided below the abutments for this purpose.