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"It was almosta year ago to the day that the old bridge had to be closed due to longitudinal cracks ..." was how the speech by Minister of Economic Affairs and Transport Kaweh Mansoori began at the ground-breaking ceremony for the Zell viaduct on 23 April 2026. In order to minimise the impact on the residents of Zell and the diversions routes, the promise was made at the time to revive the central traffic artery in the beautiful Odenwald as quickly as possible. "With today's ground-breaking ceremony, I can say that we have kepta large part of this promise," continued Mr Mansoori.
An inspection at the end of April 2025 revealed cracks in the concrete, which meant that the Zell bridge on the important B45 arterial road in the Odenwald had to be closed to road and rail traffic. The bridge, which crossed the tracks of the Odenwald railway, was in danger of collapsing and could not be repaired. The bridge was blown up in July 2025.
However, the official ground-breaking ceremony was more symbolic in nature, as work on the construction site has already been in full swing for weeks, or rather at an unabated Odenwald pace😎. The foundations for the new bridge piers are currently being prepared. If everything goes according to plan, we will be able to celebrate the opening to traffic a year later, as this is scheduled for June 2027🎉. The Odenwaldtempo therefore lives up to its name💪.
We wish our project team continued success and an accident-free construction period🍀.
