The first of Timbertec’s Swiss wildlife wooden overpasses
The Swiss Federal Roads Office “FEDRO” is already building the second wildlife overpass with a wooden roof near Neuenkirch. Work on Switzerland’s second wildlife overpass with a wooden superstructure has been underway since the northern summer of 2020. Source: Timberbiz
In the meantime, the central support and the concrete abutment walls have been constructed. The next step is for the wooden girders to be installed to cover the roadway. For the timber construction work, traffic routing has to be changed at night.
In the first phase, the wooden beams will be inserted, the ceiling constructed, and the sealing laid over the roadway in the direction of Gotthard.
The same work will then be carried out in the direction of Basel.
The wildlife overpass will have a width of 50 metres and a length of around 36 metres. The clear height is 4.80 metres. The structure is well integrated into the landscape and is largely made of wood. The wood used comes from Switzerland.
In addition, a wooden superstructure makes sense from an ecological point of view as wood stores large amounts of CO₂ thanks to photosynthesis.
To ensure fast and smooth assembly, all beams were prefabricated at “neueHolzbau AG” in Lungern, pre-assembled and delivered to the construction site.
The costs for the wildlife overpass amount to around 10.7 million Swiss francs (around US$11.5m).
Switzerland already has more than 300 bridges and tunnels specifically designed as wild animal crossings.
