Danube city bridge

The Donaustadtbrücke carries the U2 line across the Danube and the New Danube, linking Leopoldstadt in the second district with Donaustadt in the 22nd. It was first opened in 1997 as a two-lane road bridge, running just upstream of the busier Praterbrücke near the Ernst-Happel-Stadion and the Kaisermühlen motorway junction. After nine years the bridge closed to traffic and was rebuilt as a U-Bahn crossing, reopening for trains in 2010. The bridge has two distinct parts. Over the main river a single-tower cable-stayed span rises 85 metres, its pylon shaped like a heraldic shield. Across the Danube Island and the New Danube a continuous steel girder bridge completes the crossing. The design came from Alfred Pauser with architects Wilhelm Holzbauer and Heinz Marschalek, who planned the structure from the start for later conversion to U-Bahn use. Visitors walking the adjacent Praterbrücke can look down on the twin bridges and the wide waterway between them. The U2 tracks continue north and south in elevated concrete viaducts, forming a six-kilometre elevated route. No footpaths or cycle tracks exist on the Donaustadtbrücke itself, keeping the focus on the trains and the bold engineering of the shield-shaped pylon.