Restored Oxbow Fechenheim Main Bend

The renatured old arm of the Main is located in the Fechenheim Main Arc. The aim of this measure is to return part of its former river bed to the Main. This is particularly important for flood protection.

A great habitat for fauna and flora has been created here.

The entire Fechenheimer Mainbogen is a floodplain and thus an important retention area for the Frankfurt metropolitan area. In some years, a special natural spectacle occurs here when the vast landscape slowly disappears beneath the floodwaters of the Main and temporarily becomes a lake district.At the Fechenheimer Mainbogen in eastern Frankfurt, the fortified banks of the Main have been redesigned in many places to provide more diversity, allowing its waters to flow through the landscape once again. Since 2015, an approximately 90-hectare area has been home to a near-natural landscape with floodplain characteristics and more diverse habitats for animals and plants.The City of Frankfurt am Main commissioned a preliminary study for such structural improvements in 2008. The study proposed locations for 39 individual measures along Frankfurt's Main riverbanks that would enable the city to implement the objectives of the European Water Framework Directive 2000.