Posted by North of Horsens you can find a surprising old relic from the early industrial age in Denmark. Back in 1899 a new bridge was built across Gudenåen which is the large stream of water in Denmark. The small river was an obstacle for the new railroad they wanted to build between Horsens and Bryrup. They had to build a railroad bridge across the river.
The bridge across the river was 45.7 meters long and 13.5 high. This may not sound like much today – but back in 1899 this was actually the tallest railroad bridge in Denmark. The new railway was finished using the bridge. During the First World War there was a shortage of power in Denmark and they started to look for new supplies – one option was to divert the original flow of Gudenåen to a new power plant. This meant the form river under the bridge become just a little trickle.
The original railway was a narrow gauge railway – and when they decided to extent the old railway they needed to change the narrow gauge track with a modern track. The bridge couldn’t accommodate this. But considering there wasn’t a lot of water in the river anymore somebody got the idea to build a dam on top of the old bridge.
The dam covered the bridge in 1929 and the old bridge had disappeared for what should be eternity. But it shouldn’t be so. In 2014 the bridge was uncovered after 85 years. The bridge is no longer used for a railroad instead there is a bike and walking trail passing the bridge going through a pretty landscape. You can go for a long bike ride from Horsens to explore the area or you can drive to the parking lot close to the bridge and just walk from there to the bridge.
River seen from the bridge 
River from the bridge
The uncovered bridge is an interesting old bridge which really is found nowhere else in Denmark giving you an idea of what might have been in the old days in the early industrial period.
You find the bridge at Vestbirkvej 2A 8740 Brædstrup.
FrejaTravels 