BRIDGE OVER THE DANUBE
The first bridge over the Danube at Linz was authorised for construction by Emperor Maximilian I in a letter dated March 3 1497. The wooden bridge supported on 21 piers was probably completed by 1501. From a contemporary drawing it can be seen to be located where the Nibelungen Bridge spans the Danube today.
Although damaged by natural catastrophe and steadily mounting traffic and altered by renovations, rebuildings and improvemnts this wooden bridge survived untill 1868 when it was terminally crippled by a shipping accident.
In 1869 a modern iron bridge was approved.
It was built by 2 French companies and completed in 1872. Within a few years however the bridge was seen to be too narrow for the volume of traffic and not high enough above the flood level of the Danube. By 1900 discussion about a new bridge had already begun. |