On 6 September 2022, the time had come: the first steel section of the new Salzbachtal bridge on the A66 near Wiesbaden was pushed into place. The team from PORR Ingenieurbau, together with the ARGE partner Plauen Stahl Technologie and all the people involved in the construction, performed true precision work that demanded the utmost concentration. In slow motion, at ten metres per hour, the 940-tonne and 100-metre-long bridge section was pushed almost 80 metres over the valley.

Even though the official term is "bridge advance", strictly speaking the bridge was not pushed, but pulled: Hydraulic presses and steel cables ensured that the steel reached the first pier via hydraulic cushions. In the afternoon, the shifting of the first of four bridge sections was safely completed. For the PORR team on site, however, the successful advance does not mean a break: the preparations for the assembly of the second section are already in full swing.

You can find more information on the bridge launching of the Salzbachtal bridge in a recent SWR report: https://www.swr.de/swraktuell/rheinland-pfalz/mainz/erster-teil-der-salzbachtalbruecke-wiesbaden-wird-eingeschoben-100.html