Shortly before the Burscheid city limits, the route of the former Balkan Express passes under the bridge that connects the small town of Romberg with Burscheider Straße and the rest of the world. However, the 18th-century building is crumbling and would have to be extensively renovated. Technically, that would be quite feasible, if not very cheap.
However, Romberg would then be cut off from the outside world for weeks, if not months. Considerations to temporarily use a few dirt roads during this time failed because the fire brigade and ambulance always have to rush to an emergency via the shortest possible route.
And that wouldn't have been fun for the garbage disposal or the Rombergers themselves either. So the city, which had “inherited” the bridge from Deutsche Bahn decades ago, decided to fill in the natural stone arches with soil.
The neighboring town of Burscheid had already done the same with the Jahnstraße bridge, although at that time there was no talk of a cycle path. In the Romberg case, the development association spoke up in good time before a decision was made and pointed out that the route users had to have a way of overcoming the obstacle. Preferably without ramps, because they are difficult to manage.
The solution can be seen in Romberg and consists of a sheet steel tube that was screwed together from many individual segments. The tunnel was fixed with gravel poured in at the side, on the ground and at the very end thin concrete. The whole thing was then planted, and only the upper ends of the brick arches can be seen of the bridge itself.
The costs were around 210,000 euros, while the bypass to Romberg alone would have cost around 300,000 euros while the bridge was being repaired. The “emergency solution” is also economical.