Vienna says Reichsbrücke cracks pose no danger

Vienna’s department responsible for bridge construction says small cracks in the Reichsbrücke do not affect its use, ORF reported Thursday. The cracks measure 0.2 to 0.3 millimetres and have been monitored since 2021, the department said.

About 50,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day. The monitoring system, visible as white boxes on the structure, records the width of the cracks and how they change. The department said the bridge was safe and that there had never been a danger to users.

The Vienna Freedom Party has raised concerns about the cracks, saying they were identified in 2016 and asking why they had not been repaired. That year, the City Audit Office found shortcomings in the bridge’s inspection, according to the report.

The bridge department said the Reichsbrücke underwent its most recent full inspection last year. It carries out a detailed inspection every six years, checks based on those inspections every two years and several on-foot inspections annually.

The Vienna public transport operator said slower U1 trains near Vorgartenstraße and Donauinsel are not related to the bridge cracks. A worn switch is scheduled for replacement. Until the work is done, trains travel more slowly for safety reasons: at 60 rather than 80 kilometres per hour between the stations, and at reduced speed when entering the station.

The concerns come 50 years after the Reichsbrücke collapsed.