Kennedy Bridge (Bonn, Germany)

Kennedy-Brücke
Kennedy Bridge. View from the left bank. Photo taken in 2006.
Coordinates	50°44.29′N 007°06.62′E / 50.73817°N 7.11033°E / 50.73817; 7.11033Coordinates: 50°44.29′N 007°06.62′E / 50.73817°N 7.11033°E / 50.73817; 7.11033
Carries	4 lanes of roadway (B56) and tram ("Telekom-Express")
Crosses	Rhine
Locale	Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia
Characteristics
Total length	394 meters (1,292.65 ft)
Width	16 meters (52.49 ft)
Longest span	195.80 meters (642.39 ft)
History
Opened	November 12, 1949

The Kennedy Bridge (German: Kennedybrücke) is the middle of Bonn's three Rhine bridges (North, Kennedy and South bridge), connecting the city center of Bonn on the left side with the town center of Beuel (which was incorporated into Bonn in 1969) on the right side. The second Reconstruction, which began in 2007, was finished in July 2011.

Today's Kennedy Bridge is not the first connection between Bonn's two Rhine shores. There had already been a regular ferry service since the 17th Century. After the traffic grew faster and faster as well as high and low water, fog, ice or darkness complicated the transport, the city of Bonn made first plans of a bridge to the right bank of the Rhine in 1889. The citizens of Bonn started talks with the community of Vilich (the term „Beuel“ was first established in 1922). But it was a hard run until the festive inauguration of the first Rhine bridge on December 17, 1898. First, a dispute had to be clarified: the "Faehraktiengesellschaft", the community of the so-called "Faehrbeerbten" (ferrymen) who hold the „Faehrrechte“ (rights of ferry shipping) in this section of the Rhine, feared great financial losses. On May 13, 1896, the city of Bonn and the "Faehrbeerbten" both agreed on a payment of 190,000 marks, and a further compensation of 30,000 marks.

Before the beginning of the construction — not unlike today — the financing had to be guaranteed. Negotiations with various banks were unsuccessful. German Empire, Prussia and Rhine Province were also defeated, so the city had to bear the full costs, which the Council officially decided in 1894.

Initially the construction costs were estimated at 2.58 million Mark. The citizens of Bonn wanted the town of Vilich to share costs with 10%, but the local council just offered the quite insufficient sum of 2,500 marks (0.1%). They feared that the construction would exceed the estimated costs. Therefore, the Vilichers were more interested in an end point of the bridge closer to their town's center. Instead, Bonn wanted the most economical connection for their business center „Markt“ across the former Vierecksplatz, the area of today's Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz and the Berliner Freiheit. Bonn rejected the modest participation and after a long wrangling they agreed that the „Rechtsrheinischen“ (people living on the right bank of the Rhine) offer the space for the bridge ramp on their side for free and build a road to link their town with the bridge (because the bridge ended in no-man's-land there at this time) and Bonn paid for the bridge.