Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden

Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden
The bridge as seen from Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil
Carries	Rapperswil and Hurden
Locale	Rapperswil and Hurden
Characteristics
Material	Solid oak (415 cubic metres (14,700 cu ft)) with steel components weighting (61 tonnes (60 long tons; 67 short tons) in all, 233 piles 7–16 metres (52 ft) long and diameter 36–(70 centimetres (28 in)
Total length	841 metres (2,759 ft)
Width	2.4 metres (7 ft 10 in)
Height	1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in)
History
Opened	6 April 2001

Holzbrücke Rapperswil-Hurden is a wooden pedestrian bridge between the city of Rapperswil and the village of Hurden crossing the upper Lake Zürich (Obersee) in Switzerland. The prehistoric timber piles discovered to the west of the Seedamm date back to 1523 BC. The island settlement Technikum is a prehistoric pile-dwelling (or stilt house) settlement which is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Prehistoric Pile dwellings around the Alps. The first wooden footbridge led across Lake Zürich, followed by several reconstructions at least until the late 2nd century AD when the Roman Empire built a 6 metres (20 ft) wide wooden bridge. Between 1358 and 1360, Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, built a 'new' wooden bridge across the lake that was used until 1878. On 6 April 2001, the reconstructed wooden footbridge was opened, being the longest wooden bridge in Switzerland.

The pedestrian bridge is located next to the so-called Seedamm, as of the today, on upper Lake Zürich (Obersee), and connects Rapperswil, canton of St. Gallen, and Hurden, canton of Schwyz. From Rapperswil railway station it is just a few minutes’ walk, starting right next to the Hochschule für Technik Rapperswil. Its filigree timber structure invites the hiker to observe the richly varied flora and fauna in the nature reserve situated around the small islands neighboring the so-called Heilig Hüsli.

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Wikipedia