Wiesenrainbrücke

The Wiesenrainbrücke is a steel bridge that crosses the Alpenrhein between Widnau in Switzerland and Lustenau in Austria. It stands just above the river at 410 metres above sea level, replacing an earlier covered wooden bridge built in 1875. The present steel truss structure dates from 1914 and carries road traffic, pedestrians, cyclists and a service railway for the International Rhine Regulation. The bridge is worth visiting because it is a protected monument and a rare example of early 20th-century engineering. Nationalrat Ernst Schmidheiny I spoke at its opening in May 1914. Scenes from the film Akte Grüninger, about the Swiss border guard Paul Grüninger, were shot here in 2013. Since March 2024 the bridge has been restricted to single-lane use because of corrosion, but plans for a full restoration from 2030 are already in preparation. Visitors walk or cycle across the 260-metre span and see the river below and the flat Rhine valley on either side. The Philipp-Krapf-Straße on the Lustenau side leads directly onto the bridge, while on the Widnau side the road continues as Rheinstrasse. The steel framework of the bridge remains solid, and the surrounding fields and farms recall the agricultural purpose for which the first bridge was built.