Bridges as bottlenecks

Starting signal for Vienna’s summer of roadworks

The basic renovation of the Augarten Bridge is already underway.(Bild: Zwefo)

The first Monday in June brings new roadworks in nine places in Vienna - and thus the official start of the roadworks summer. In particular, the renovation of the Augarten Bridge and the Edelsinn Bridge will lead to considerable traffic congestion.

The summer begins on June 3 - at least according to the calendar of Vienna's construction site coordinator Christian Zant. In addition to the ongoing redesigns and construction sites in the city, there will be nine further construction projects with significant traffic restrictions from the first Monday in June.

General refurbishment urgently needed
Two major bridge renovations in particular will affect city traffic: both the Augartenbrücke, which connects Maria-Theresien-Straße and Untere Augartenstraße, and the Edelsinnbrücke - the bridge over Edelsinnstraße on Altmannsdorfer Straße - need to be completely renovated from the supporting structure to the road surface. The last general overhaul of the Augarten Bridge was almost 60 years ago, while the Edelsinn Bridge was overhauled around 50 years ago.

Bridge construction manager Thomas Herzfeld and construction site coordinator Christian Zant.(Bild: Zwefo)

At least one lane of the Augarten Bridge will be closed until September, and streetcar line 31 will also be shortened until September 1. A special traffic light system will keep traffic jams at bay. Overall, the construction work there will last until summer 2025. After that, not only will the bridge be renovated, but the cycle paths and footpaths will also run separately from each other. The city provides information on current traffic restrictions at baustellen.wien.at.

Major attack on Altmannsdorfer Straße from July
Construction site coordinator Christian Zant and bridge construction manager Thomas Herzfeld expect even greater traffic congestion than on the Augarten Bridge during the renovation of the Edelsinn Bridge. Work is already underway there, but "the big attack" will begin in July, according to Zant. Then only one lane will be available in each direction, and from August at least three of the four lanes.

In addition, there is the reconstruction of Äußere Mariahilfer Straße, the usual renovation work on the Gürtel and six other major construction sites with traffic restrictions, especially within the Gürtel. One can take comfort in the fact that at least the largest current construction site in the city - the Wiental Canal - is running underground: without any traffic jams.