Anyone who has ever ridden a bike across the Niderräder Bridge will surely especially remember how uncomfortable it was to get the bike up the steps. That has finally come to an end. Because in order to promote cycling and at the same time increase road safety for cyclists, the city of Frankfurt am Main has now converted the previous ramp into a so-called step-free ramp. This means that cyclists can now get onto the bridge much more easily.
But pedestrians have also been thought of. For them, a new stair tower was also built. Since Wednesday, 31 January, after the stairs, the new ramp is now also open for bicycle traffic. The Niederräder Bridge connects the districts Niederrad and Gutleutviertel above the river Main. The new step-free ramp now has a continuous asphalt surface and is intended to offer not only greater safety but also greater comfort. To avoid collisions between cyclists and pedestrians, the separate steel stair tower was built. It is equipped with an anti-slip grating covering to make it safe to walk on even in bad weather conditions.
However, the ramp is not quite finished yet. This is because due to supply shortages, the railings provided on the ramp have not yet been installed. As soon as the remaining work is due, the ramp will only be slightly restricted in its passage width in sections. It will not need to be closed again, as it was from November 2017 until earlier this year.
The work was carried out in two successive phases of construction. Construction began in October 2017 with the erection of the new stair tower, followed by the construction of the new step-free ramp. The new ramp has a gradient of about 15 percent and is therefore of limited use to people with limited mobility. It is not suitable for wheelchair users. Unfortunately, due to local conditions, it was not possible to build the ramp flatter and thus more accessible
