The Elster Viaduct near Pirk (Hof) is one of the most unusual motorway bridge

Bridge

A bridge is a structure built to span physical obstacles such as a body of water, valley, or road, for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle...

s in Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. The building of this bridge began in 1937, but was stopped in 1940 due to the chaos created by World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Since this bridge then was in the restricted area of the East Germany

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

, construction was not restarted until 1990. In June 1990 preliminary investigations began, and finally in September 1990 the building of the bridge began anew. In August 1993 the bridge was opened to traffic. Federal Motorway (Ger. Bundesautobahn) 72 now uses the bridge.