Plans for the construction of the waterway junction date back to at least the beginning of the 20th century. Construction of the Mittelland Canal began in 1905. The Rothensee boat lift was completed in 1938. The canal bridge and the Hohenwarthe double boat lift were also already under construction. The abutments, the pier foundations, and four arches of the canal bridge were already largely completed when construction was halted in 1942 due to the Second World War. After the war, however, the GDR discontinued the project. The project was not pursued because, on the one hand, there was little interest in an east-west connection, and, on the other, the cost of materials and labor would have been too high. The bridge abutments stood on both banks of the river for over 60 years. Demolition of the old bridge sections was only possible with considerable effort, as their strength was much higher than expected.
After reunification, the goal was again to raise the level of eastern shipping to western standards. One of the largest projects was the already planned expansion of the waterway connection from Hanover via Magdeburg to Berlin. The Magdeburg Canal Bridge over the Elbe River was completed in 2003 as part of the German Unity Transport Project No. 17. The Rothensee Lock, built in 2001, has since replaced the outdated ship lift.
The section of the Mittelland Canal from Magdeburg to the Dortmund-Ems Canal has been navigable since the end of 2017, with 185 m long and 2.80 m wide push barges carrying 3,600 t of cargo. VDE 17 is scheduled for completion in 2019. (Source: Wikipedia)