A collapsed section of the Carola Bridge is being demolished: How dilapidated is Germany's infrastructure?

This concerns the section from which, on the night to Wednesday, a roughly 100-meter-long portion had plunged into the Elbe. Since then, an adjacent bridge section has been visibly sagging. Experts had come to the conclusion that this strand of the bridge could not be sustained and would have to be completely demolished. The individual elements of the prestressed concrete bridge were separated from each other on the night to Friday and brought down in a controlled manner, said fire department spokesman Michael Klahre in the morning.

The fallen debris is now being crushed with special machinery and transported away as quickly as possible. Time is of the essence for the demolition work. Klahre could not say how long the removal of the remains of the bridge would take. The emergency responders must hurry. A flood is predicted for the Elbe starting Sunday. So far, the river has had relatively low water levels, but due to heavy rainfall in neighboring Czech Republic, larger water masses are now expected.

The approximately 400-meter-long Carolabrücke consisted of three parallel bridge sections. One section carried tram tracks as well as a bicycle and pedestrian path. The other two sections carried car lanes. On Wednesday night, a part of the section with the tram tracks collapsed. No one was injured in the incident. The two remaining standing sections of the bridge are still closed. It is not yet clear how severely they have been affected by the collapse.