High above Germany’s Neckar Valley, an impressive engineering project is taking shape. As part of the new Horb bypass, the Karlsruhe Regional Council is constructing a 667-metre-long and 65-metre-high bridge that will soon carry the B32 federal road across the river. Two Liebherr cranes from Wiesbauer GmbH & Co. KG — an LR 1700-1.0 crawler crane and an LTM 1650-8.1 mobile crane — were deployed to lift and install massive steel plates beneath the two carriageway spans.
The bridge, designed as an “extra-dosed” structure combining features of cable-stayed and prestressed concrete bridges, relies on continuous steel plates to reinforce its slender concrete decks. These plates, up to 157 metres long and 14 centimetres thick, were pre-assembled on the ground to minimise disruption to other construction works. Each section weighed as much as 70 tonnes, with total lifting loads reaching over 100 tonnes once rigging was added.
The LR 1700-1.0, equipped with a 132-metre main boom, 12-metre fixed jib, and 375 tonnes of ballast, performed solo lifts from the valley floor. For sections positioned farther along the bridge, tandem lifts with the LTM 1650-8.1 were required, involving radii of up to 96 metres. Both cranes achieved millimetre-precise placement, aided by Liebherr’s VarioTray and V-Frame systems, which allowed continuous adjustment of the ballast radius in the site’s extremely tight working conditions.
The project’s narrow location between the Neckar River and a railway line presented significant logistical challenges. All crane components had to be transported via winding access roads and assembled with minimal clearance. Detailed planning using Liebherr’s LICCON planner and CAD simulations, combined with Wiesbauer’s extensive lifting experience, ensured the complex operation was completed safely and successfully — a remarkable demonstration of precision engineering at height.
