Collapse of a cable-stayed road bridge in Germany in 1825

Abstract

On 6 December 1825 a cable-stayed road bridge at Nienburg-on-the-Saale, Germany, collapsed with the loss of 55 lives. It was the first cable-stayed bridge with a roadway for team-drawn wagons and with two sidewalks for pedestrians and spanned 79 m between towers, with a double-leaf bascule at midspan to permit passage of sailing vessel masts. The disaster contributed to the negative attitude towards bridges supported by a multiplicity of tensile stays, which persisted until after World War II. As Nienburg recovered from the Napoleonic Wars it needed a bridge across the Saale but a conventional masonry arch bridge was unaffordable. A local building official, Gottfried Bandhauer, proposed a cable-stayed design. There were serious quality control problems during construction, but the bridge was tested and opened to traffic in September 1825. It collapsed 3 months later during a celebration honouring the Duke. The bridge structure, the events leading to the collapse, and the post-collapse investigations are related in this paper, including results of approximate static and dynamic analyses. The purpose of this paper is to relate the history of the bridge and the consequences of engineering designs that are too advanced for the artisans at the time and place.