Spectacular show

High above the water: Linz’s “Golden Gate” opens

It does not require any pillars, which is why the Danube Valley Bridge, which spans 300 meters, is unique in the world.

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

An animated giant, almost ten meters tall, who wants to cross the Danube from Urfahr after an infinite amount of time to find friends, was the symbolic figure at the center of the spectacular show: Asfinag, the state and the city celebrated with around 2,500 onlookers - the new Danube Valley Bridge will be opened to traffic on 16 November.

It was almost two years ago when the very first 350-ton steel segment for the imposing suspension bridge - unlike the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, for example, the Linz counterpart has no supporting pillars - was painstakingly pulled up millimeter by millimeter and installed over the Danube. Countless onlookers watched the spectacle from the banks of the Danube at Urfahrwänd.

The opening show was really great

(Bild: Mario Ruhmanseder)

Spectacular light and sound show
Just like yesterday, when the long-awaited opening of the new Danube Valley Bridge took place. A spectacular light and sound show was used to set the scene, marveled at by the audience who, thanks to a total of six Danube boat tours, gained completely new perspectives on the unique structure - 306 meters long and 25 meters wide.

Great atmosphere: the new Danube Valley Bridge in the golden morning mist.

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

"We are giving the people of Linz their new landmark"
"We have kept our promise that, despite the enormous challenges during construction, we will proceed in a spirit of partnership and transparency and that the protection of people and the environment will always take center stage. Our project team has completed a work of superlatives, a special combination of bridge and tunnel in a very confined urban space, even for us as an experienced client. Today we are handing over this globally unique suspension bridge to the people of Linz as a new landmark for their city," says Hartwig Hufnagl, CEO of ASFINAG. 

"City and province pull together"
Governor Thomas Stelzer: "Good things come to those who wait. The bridge is the first visible sign that we in Upper Austria are also equipped for the mobility of the future. It is also a sign of the importance of this infrastructure project for Linz and Upper Austria that the city and the province are pulling together and paying heavily for the fourth Danube bridge and the West Ring. This is possible because there is agreement and support across party and regional authorities. This cooperation is a trademark of Upper Austria, it is what has made us strong in the past and will hopefully continue to make us strong in the future."

The opening to traffic is planned for late fall after a number of test runs of the safety technology and official approvals.

(Bild: Markus Wenzel)

Commuters and Linz residents benefit
While FP Mobility Councillor Günther Steinkellner emphasized that "commuters from the districts of Rohrbach and Urfahr-Umgebung will benefit from shorter distances and significantly better accessibility to the city in the future", Didi Prammer, Managing Director of Linz's SP City Council, was pleased that "the bridge will make it possible to calm traffic and generally reorganize public spaces in the city centre."

The tunnel is to be completed by 2032
What's next for the Westring? In the second expansion phase, the "core section" of the A 26 will be implemented from 2026 to 2032. The tunnel runs underneath Freinberg, Ziegelei and Waldeggstrasse. The travel time between the city entrance in the Urfahrwänd area and Linz main station will then be reduced from the current 40 minutes at peak traffic times to five minutes. In the third expansion phase (2033 to 2035), the connection to the Mühlkreisautobahn will be established.