In November, crews who want to move their boat to winter storage on the Schlei or simply want to sail, must plan their possible passage in Kappeln carefully: from 6 to 9 November and from 13 to 16 November, the bridge will be closed from 8 am to 5 pm. Workers will be replacing the locks on the north and south bridges.
As early as 2022, an inspection of the 21-year-old structure revealed that the steel parts of the interlocking clasps were worn and no longer locked the bridge properly. Since then, one part of the bridge has been slightly higher than the other when closed. If traffic drives over it, load peaks occur that can damage the bridge. The banging noise could even be clearly heard at times. For this reason, the speed limit for car traffic was reduced to 30 km/h in 2022.
Bottleneck on the way to winter storage
The parts to be replaced are wearing parts, but were not available in 2022 due to general material shortages. They have now been procured and the replacement will begin on 6 November on the southern section of the bridge, followed by work on the northern section on the 13th. Its closing mechanism was only replaced in 2017, but is now worn out again.
For crews who want to sail on the Schlei late in the year, it will be complicated, as the railway only recently announced that the passage further up the Schlei at Lindaunis will also be completely closed for the entire winter from 1 November and that further closures for work will also be necessary in October. More information via the link below.
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Andreas Fritsch
Editor Travel
