Pfaffendorf Bridge (1864)
The present Pfaffendorfer Brücke carries the B 49 road over the Rhine, connecting central Koblenz with the suburbs of Pfaffendorf and Ehrenbreitstein. The first bridge, completed in 1864, was destroyed in the Second World War. The present bridge was opened in 1953.
This entry focuses on the 1864 bridge.
The foundation stone was laid on 11 November 1862, and the bridge was inaugurated on 9 May 1864.
It had three arched wrought iron spans, each 97 m long.
It was built as a railway bridge, but as early as 1865, the southern side could be used for general traffic at times when no trains were running. With the construction of the Horchheim Railway Bridge in 1879, the south side of the bridge became permanently available for road traffic.
In 1899, the Coblenzer Straßenbahn-Gesellschaft was permitted to build a tram line over the bridge. The last trains crossed the Pfaffendorf Bridge at the beginning of the First World War.
In 1932, the City of Koblenz owned the Pfaffendorf Bridge and decided to reconstruct it with four road lanes and two pedestrian walkways.
The Pfaffendorf Bridge was destroyed on 7 March 1945 by German troops.
Drawing of one span of the bridge here [1]. See reduced resolution version above.
The bridge probably influenced James Buchanan Eads in his design of the Eads Bridge (St. Louis).