Hamburg unveils design for new Köhlbrandbrücke, a taller, longer tribute to the 1974 original

Design echoes the icon

Almost six decades after Egon Jux’s Köhlbrandbrücke became a symbol of the Port of Hamburg, the Senate has chosen a successor that is unmistakably a modernised version of the original. Six of the seven competition entries quoted the existing bridge’s split pylon form, and the unanimous jury pick pushes the tribute further. Two 170-metre concrete pylons rise above a five-kilometre deck, their faces pierced for the carriageway, a reversal from the steel pylons of the 1974 structure. Cables run between the two roadways instead of flanking them, giving the profile an airier, lighter look.

The new bridge is a homage to the old bridge.

The existing Köhlbrandbrücke is an icon – and the new Hamburg icon will be the new bridge once again.

The design consortium brings together sbp, Grassl and WTM Engineers with architects gmp and PPL. A 21-member panel of experts, parliamentarians and Senate representatives backed the entry without dissent.

A hundred-year replacement for a weary workhorse

The current bridge cannot simply be patched any longer. Opened in 1974, it now carries more than 30,000 vehicles a day, nearly double the load it was built for. Severe steel cracks, crumbling concrete ramps and an ever-growing maintenance schedule have forced a cascade of restrictions. Trucks have been barred from overtaking since 2012, a mandatory 50-metre truck spacing was imposed in 2019, and since 1 May 2026 heavy-goods vehicles above 44 tonnes need a special permit. Weekend closures are now routine, with four full shutdowns in 2026 alone and seven already pencilled in for 2027.

The new crossing is designed for a 100-year service life and will monitor its own condition through hundreds of embedded sensors. It will rest on more than 40 hexagonal piers, with a main span of 400 metres and two traffic lanes in each direction – the same number as today.

Higher and longer to welcome the mega-ships

The most practical upgrade is clearance. The deck sits 73.5 metres above the Köhlbrand, 20 metres higher than the present bridge. That lets the latest generation of ultra-large container vessels – up to 24,500 TEU – reach the Altenwerder terminal, which today can accept ships of at most 14,000 TEU. To achieve the altitude, the eastern and western approach ramps each stretch an extra 500 metres, expanding the overall length to five kilometres.

The total structure will be five kilometres long.

Faster timeline, firm budget

The city had originally forecast a completion date in the 2040s, but a combined design-and-planning award has pulled that forward. Senator Leonhard now targets the planning-approval application by 2030 and a road-traffic opening by the late 2030s – with the hope of finishing even earlier. Ships will not profit from the extra headroom until 2040, when the old bridge is demolished and the full 73.5-metre channel is clear. The Hamburgische Bürgerschaft greenlit the project in June 2024 and set a €5.3 billion cost ceiling. Leonhard insists the figure will hold, with the federal government covering half the net construction bill.

We will be able to stay within the cost framework.

The main port route across the Köhlbrand has to remain in continuous operation. We are operating on a living patient and keeping him healthy the whole time – that is the supreme art here in the Port of Hamburg.

Reception: a salute or a missed chance?

At the Rathaus exhibition, which runs until 24 June, the public sees a design that deliberately avoids radical rupture. Some voices, including Frank Drieschner of ZEIT ONLINE, wonder whether Egon Jux would have been impressed by a replication that leans heavily on better materials and computing power rather than a fresh vision. Yet the consistency of the six similar submissions suggests a collective instinct: this city wants to make saying goodbye to the old bridge as easy as possible.