The A7 Mühlkreis motorway, between the Linz and Urfahr nodes, has been in operation for approx. 50 years and is used by up to 100,000 vehicles every day.
This section of road, the second most heavily trafficked in Austria, has reached the end of its technical service life. Due to the lack of a continuous hard shoulder and the reduced width of the central reservation, this section no longer meets the state of the art in terms of road safety. For this reason, a safety upgrade concept comprising five sub-sections has been developed for the Linz urban motorway. The first section, the Vöest Bridge sub-section, was already implemented between 2018 and 2023. In addition to the reconstruction of the Hafenstraße junction and the Urfahr node, this also involved the construction of two cable-stayed bridges (bypass bridges) across the Danube, running parallel to the existing Vöest Bridge; BERNARD Gruppe was responsible for all design phases related to these bridges. Construction on the second section of the overall rehabilitation of the Linz urban motorway, from the Niedernhart tunnel portal to the Vöest interchange, began in early 2025.In open-country sections, the superstructure across all carriageways and hard shoulders and the safety barrier system are to be renewed, and the noise barriers are to be refurbished. The structural measures on the ten bridge structures in total comprise the renewal of the bridge waterproofing and the road surface, the bridge equipment, the deck transition structures, the bridge drainage and the bearings, as well as bearing and concrete repairs; concrete repairs to the superstructure and substructure; the renewal of the cantilever slabs and the noise barrier, anti-collision protection measures and reinforcement work on the composite structure of the Posselt Bridge (LZ22) over the Westbahn railway line. All measures will be carried out whilst maintaining traffic flow, with two lanes available in each direction, in the course of eight traffic phases. Completion of the works is scheduled for the end of 2030.
The BERNARD Gruppe, as part of a consortium, was commissioned by ASFINAG to carry out the road and bridge design for the preparation of tender documents and detailed design phases.
Walter Skala, BERNARD Gruppe
