Bahnhofbrücke, Zurich

Bahnhofbrücke (lit. 'railway station bridge') is a road and tramway bridge over the river Limmat in Zurich, Switzerland.

Bahnhofbrücke
Bahnhofbrücke seen from the upstream side
Coordinates	47°22′37″N 8°32′34″E
Carries	Two lanes for road traffic, two tram railways and sidewalks
Crosses	Limmat
Locale	Central, Zürich, Switzerland
Official name	Bahnhofbrücke
ID number	145
Characteristics
No. of spans	4
History
Construction end	1847 (178 years ago) (1847)
Location

Aerial photograph by Eduard Spelterini in the probably late 1890s

Geography

Bahnhofbrücke means 'railway station bridge' in German, referring to the adjacent main railway station of Zurich which is situated outside of the city's historical core of the medieval town. The bridge crosses the left-hand (western) and right-hand (eastern) bank of the Limmat, opposite of Zürich Hauptbahnhof (Zürich HB) and connects the main railway station, the Central square, Limmatquai and the City and Unterstrass quarters.^[1]

Transportation

The Zurich tram lines 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 15, and the local VBZ bus lines 31, 33, 34 and 46 provide public transportation, as well as Zürichsee-Schifffahrtsgesellschaft (ZSG) and its Limmat tour boats towards Zürichhorn and Landesmuseum. Private road transport towards Limmatquai, the largest pedestrian zone of Zurich, is restricted to the short roadway towards the Brunbrücke and Uraniastrasse (Urania Sternwarte) at the site of the former Oetenbach nunnery;^[2] and also road transport between Central–Bahnhofbrücke and the Bahnhofquai and Bahnhofplatz squares is allowed.

History

The construction works started in 1847, named in 1863, and in 1871 it was extended according to the plans of Gottfried Semper by the architect F. Wanner. Redesigns of the Central–Bahnhofbrücke area occurred in 1950–51.^[3][4]

Literature

• Das Limmatquai vor und nach der Neugestaltung. Aufenthaltsnutzung, Fuss- und Veloverkehrsaufkommen im Vergleich der Jahre 2004-2005-2008. Published by Tiefbau- und Entsorgungsdepartement der Stadt Zürich, Zürich 2009.