Replacing the town hall bridge is now expected to cost 58 million
The town hall bridge in the heart of Zurich’s old town is to be replaced for 58 million francs. The voters will decide on November 24th.
The planned new Zurich town hall bridge (bottom right in the picture) is intended to play an important role in flood protection – and offer plenty of space for passers-by on foot and on bicycle.
Visualization: zvg
The ancient Romans had already built a bridge in the area of Zurich’s town hall bridge around 2000 years ago, historians suspect. Since then, a lot of water has flowed down the Limmat. And there is likely to be much more: the canton is currently building a flood relief tunnel that will in future be used to channel water from the Sihl into Lake Zurich near Thalwil after heavy rainfall. This is one reason why the city of Zurich is planning to replace the town hall bridge: it no longer meets the flood protection requirements.
In addition, the current town hall bridge, which was built between 1971 and 1973, is no longer structurally sound: corrosion and waterlogged areas make it in need of renovation, as the city council noted. In order to achieve the necessary discharge capacity, the river bed should be deepened. Therefore, the old bridge needs to be dismantled and a new replacement built. Cost: 58 million francs.
This is how the current town hall bridge appeared in 1974, the year after it was completed.
Image: zvg/Comet/Zurich Building History Archive
The local council approved the project with 101 votes to 11. Only the SVP was against it. She recalled that just a few years ago the city council had estimated the costs at a good 30 million and called for a corresponding cost reduction – in vain. Now, on November 24th, Zurich city voters will decide on replacing the bridge for 58 million francs.
AL criticizes the lack of heat reduction
A slightly narrower, but still large, new town hall bridge is planned – and a deepened riverbed underneath. The bridge, popularly known as the vegetable bridge because of its market tradition, will also be cleared out according to the city council’s plans: the current kiosk buildings no longer have space on the new building. This should only be permanently furnished with four benches each facing upstream or downstream.
According to the municipal master plan, the town hall bridge serves as a “foot connection with increased quality of stay” and a bicycle route. In order to improve its function as a pedestrian and bicycle connection, the city council wants to remove two taxi stands and the goods transfer point on the bridge.
Lots of gray, hardly any green: This is what the new town hall bridge should look like.
Visualization: zvg
To reduce the heat, two additional trees are planned on the Weinplatz adjacent to the bridge on the left side of the Limmat. The floor covering is asphalt, lightened with round pebbles. The city council stated in its instructions for the bridge project that no trees could be planted on the bridge for structural reasons – and received criticism from the AL in the local council. They found that shading measures would be entirely possible on the future town hall bridge.
Construction is scheduled to last from 2026 to 2029
If the people agree, construction work should begin in January 2026. According to the city council, cantonal archeology is also involved, especially with regard to the excavation of the Limmat. Without delays, the bridge construction would be completed in 2029 according to city planning.
It was actually planned to renovate the town hall at the same time. But because the monument preservation department had objections, this project was delayed, as the canton announced in June. A new schedule is not yet foreseeable. The parliaments of the city and canton of Zurich are currently meeting in the converted Bullingerkirche instead of in the town hall, which belongs to the canton.
The forerunners of the town hall bridge collapsed twice
The planned new town hall bridge is part of a long tradition of building bridges over the Limmat in Zurich: in 1221 the “lower” bridge was first mentioned in the same place, as was the “upper” bridge in place of today’s cathedral bridge. The political center of the city shifted from the Lindenhof to the Limmat, as in Historical lexicon of Switzerland is called.
At the same time, a council was established as the city government. A first town hall was built. In 1375, the town hall bridge collapsed during a Pentecost procession, according to a history of Zurich bridges published by the city in 2016. Another collapse followed in 1615 under the weight of a grain wagon.
The Vegetable Bridge (left), which was later renamed the Town Hall Bridge, and the Münster Bridge were the only Limmat bridges in Zurich in the Middle Ages, and can be seen on the Murer plan from 1576.
Image: zvg/State Archives Canton of Zurich
Since the Middle Ages, the town hall bridge has been equipped with a water wheel. This was removed in 1821. Six decades later, a cast-iron vegetable bridge was built; Shortly afterwards it was officially renamed the Rathausbrücke and almost a century later it was replaced by today’s Rathausbrücke.
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