Luitpoldbrücke in Passau, Passau

The Luitpold Bridge is a 208 m long suspension bridge in Passau, which connects the tip of the old town with the Angerstrasse below the Veste Oberhaus shortly before the Ilz flows into the Danube. With a span of 126 m, the structure has spanned the Danube at river kilometer 2225.750 since 1910. On the south side, the suspension cables are guided over a pylon and anchored in the foundation soil with anchor blocks; on the north side, they are anchored in a rock face below Veste Oberhaus.

The bridge was planned as a replacement for a pedestrian suspension bridge built in 1869 about 100 m downstream, whose wire cables were badly damaged by corrosion around 1900. Initial considerations in favor of an inexpensive bridge design with iron crescent girders towering high above the river led to numerous protests directed against a feared destruction of the cityscape. In the end, the decision was made in favor of a much more elaborate cable suspension bridge, which was wider and more load-bearing than the old pedestrian bridge but, like the latter, hardly interfered with the cityscape or landscape due to its filigree supporting structure made of wire cables.

First, two 25 cm steel cables, each with a breaking strength of 960 tons, were tensioned across the Danube. From a pontoon platform, the assembly of 40 cross girders took place. The sidewalks on both sides of the roadway were covered with reinforced concrete slabs and the road was paved. It was inaugurated in 1911 and has normal pylons on the Passau side and only small pylons on the slope side, where the supporting cables are anchored in the ground.

Shortly before the end of the Second World War on May 2, 1945, immediately before the invasion of U.S. troops, the bridge was partially blown up. Donations and support from the Bavarian ministries made it possible to repair the bridge relatively quickly and reopen it to traffic on August 17, 1948. The engineer Rudolf Barbré played a major role in the reconstruction.

With a clearance of only 5.15 m above the Highest Shipping Water Level, it is one of the lowest bridges over the Danube for Danube navigation.

In 2017 and 2018, a general renovation of the bridge took place.