The Hardbrücke (

Swiss German Swiss German (Standard German: , gsw, Schwiizerdütsch, Schwyzerdütsch, Schwiizertüütsch, Schwizertitsch Mundart,Because of the many different dialects, and because there is no defined orthography for any of them, many different spelling ...

: ''Hardbrugg'') is a long

road bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and important north–south connection in the

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

city of

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

. As of 2009, 70,000 vehicles use the bridge daily. From north to south, the bridge crosses ''Wipkingerplatz'' in the

Wipkingen Wipkingen is a quarter in the district 10 in Zürich. It was formerly a municipality of its own, having been incorporated into Zürich in 1893. The quarter has a population of 15,446 distributed on an area of 2.11 km². Zentrum für Mig ...

quarter, the

River Limmat The Limmat is a river in Switzerland. The river commences at the outfall of Lake Zurich, in the southern part of the city of Zurich. From Zurich it flows in a northwesterly direction, after 35 km reaching the river Aare. The confluen ...

, a couple of roads of the '' Industriequartier'' (including '' Escher-Wyss-Platz''), the

railway track A railway track (British English and UIC terminology) or railroad track (American English), also known as permanent way or simply track, is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails, fasteners, railroad ties (sleepers, ...

s of the Zürich–Baden and ''

Käferberg Käferberg (el. ) and Waidberg (el. ) are the summits of a wooded mountain respectively chain of hills overlooking the inner city of Zürich, Zürichsee, Albis chain and Uetliberg, as well as the Limmat Valley and the Zürcher Unterland in Switze ...

'' lines (including a

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

), numerous holding tracks of the track field preceding , the former

goods station A goods station (also known as a goods yard or goods depot) or freight station is, in the widest sense, a railway station where, either exclusively or predominantly, goods (or freight), such as merchandise, parcels, and manufactured items, are lo ...

(mostly removed) and a road (''Hohlstrasse'') in Zürich's

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. Over the Limmat, the Hardbrücke forms an upper level to the lower level ''Wipkingerbrücke'', a road/tramway bridge. There are several exit and entrance ramps that link the bridge to the streets below. Some junctions on the bridge have

traffic light Traffic lights, traffic signals, or stoplights – known also as robots in South Africa are signalling devices positioned at intersection (road), road intersections, pedestrian crossings, and other locations in order to control flows of traf ...

Name

The bridge (german: Brücke) gets its name from the German

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

(''Flurname'') ''Hard'', meaning hill or forest, used for the area where the bridge is located. ''Hard'' is part of the name of several nearby places, such as ''Hardplatz'', ''Hardturm'', ''Hardau'', ''Herdernstrasse'' (plural of ''Hard''), or the ''

Hard Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...

'' quarter.

History

The first ''Hardbrücke'', a

truss bridge A truss bridge is a bridge whose load-bearing superstructure is composed of a truss, a structure of connected elements, usually forming triangular units. The connected elements (typically straight) may be stressed from tension, compression, or ...

linking ''Hardplatz'' with ''Pfingstweidstrasse'', was built in 1897. Construction of the current

girder bridge A girder bridge is a bridge that uses girders as the means of supporting its deck. The two most common types of modern steel girder bridges are plate and box. The term "girder" is often used interchangeably with "beam" in reference to bridge de ...

commenced in 1969 and it was opened in 1972. It was built as a preliminary traffic solution as discussions for an

expressway Expressway may refer to: * Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic. * Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road. *Expressway, the fictional s ...

through Zürich's city center went on. The Y-shaped core section of this expressway () was never built. Until the opening of the Uetliberg Tunnel and the highway bypassing Zürich to the West (''Westumfahrung'') in 2009, all north-/south-bound through traffic took the route over the ''Hardbrücke''. The bridge, which remains an important innercity route up to this day, underwent a major refurbishment between 2009 and 2011. Between 2015 and 2017,

tramway tracks Tramway track is used on tramways or light rail operations. Grooved rails (or girder rails) are often used to provide a protective flangeway in the trackwork in city streets. Like standard rail tracks, tram tracks consist of two parallel st ...

were installed on the section crossing the railway tracks, allowing the extension of

Zürich tram , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

route 8 from ''Hardplatz'' to ''Hardturm'' on the other side of the tracks. A further, northward extension of the tramway tracks over ''Hardbrücke'' and up to ''Bucheggplatz'' and ''Milchbuck'', which would have served two new tram routes (''Rosengartentram''), was rejected by a referendum in 2020.https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/abstimmungen-oberrubrik/abstimmungen/kanton-zuerich-stimmvolk-stoppt-milliardentunnel

Railway station

Since 1982, there is a

below the ''Hardbrücke'', which is named after the bridge. The station is located on the Zürich–Baden and Zürich–Winterthur (''Käferberg Tunnel'' variant) lines. It is served by regional trains (

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban- suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble co ...

) of

Zürich S-Bahn The Zürich S-Bahn (german: S-Bahn Zürich) system is a network of rail lines that has been incrementally expanded to cover the ZVV area, which comprises the entire canton of Zürich and portions of neighbouring cantons (Aargau, Glarus, ...

. The station is one of the busiest in the Zürich S-Bahn network. In terms of passenger numbers, it is ranked 11th in the country (as of 2018). The station can be accessed either from the bridge or via an

underpass A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

. There are stairs and

elevators An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They are ...

in both cases.

Traffic

The bridge is used both by

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and

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typical ...

. Above the railway station, there is a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and bus stop (called ''Bahnhof Hardbrücke'') served by VBZ

route 8,

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

routes 33 and 72, and

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

route 83. The tram route leaves the bridge just north of the stop, while all trolleybus and bus routes continue northward on the bridge. Additional bus stops on the ''Hardbrücke'' exist at ''Schiffbau'' and ''Escher-Wyss-Platz''. The bridge is also a main bike route on the section crossing the railway tracks. Pedestrians and cyclists share the sidewalks on either side of the bridge, which are protected by a concrete wall from car traffic.

Gallery

File:Hardbrücke Juni 2010.jpg, ''Hardbrücke'' during its 2010 refurbishment File:Zürich Hardbrücke Tram.jpg, Zürich tram below ''Hardbrücke'' File:Hardbrücke (22340560486).jpg, ''Hardbrücke'' (above) and ''Wipkingerbrücke'' (below) crossing the River Limmat File:Hardbrücke - September 2014 - Bild 1.JPG, Traffic (2014) File:I want to ride my bicycle (14159025411).jpg, ''Hardbrücke'' is also a bike route File:Hardbrücke (16211064497).jpg, Sidewalk on the bridge File:Aerial view of Zurich.JPG, Aerial view File:View from Hardbrücke.jpg, View from ''Hardbrücke'' over track field File:Hardbrücke.jpg, Railway station under the bridge, and tram/bus stop on the bridge

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Hardbrucke Bridges in Zürich Road bridges in Switzerland