Pleißehochflutbett

What if water could tell a story? Here at the Pleißehochflutbett, the whispers of the Pleiße River speak of floods and foresight. The Pleißehochflutbett isn’t just a grassy meadow. It’s a testament to Leipzig’s ingenuity, a 1.2-kilometer-long artificial riverbed designed to tame the Pleiße’s occasional fury. Created between 1868 and 1869, the Pleißehochflutbett is a bypass, a pressure valve for the river. Normally dry, this 40 to 50-meter wide swathe through the Auenwald comes alive during periods of high water. The Pleißehochflutbett begins near the Pleißenbrücke railway bridge and meanders northwest. It rejoins the main flow of the Pleiße north of the Hakenteich. It also cradles the Jungfernlache, an old branch of the Pleiße, absorbed into the flood channel’s design. Several structures cross the Pleißehochflutbett. These include the Koburger Straße with the Gautzscher Brücke. Also the Auenwaldweg “Die Linie” and a few footpaths. A key component of the Pleißehochflutbett’s function is the Gautzscher Brücke. It increases the flow capacity of the embankment carrying the Koburger Straße during floods. Otherwise, only the Raschwitzer Brücke would handle the surge. The Pleißehochflutbett has no formal inlet or outlet structures. Its boundaries are simply low embankments or natural rises in the terrain. This design allows the Auenwald to flood when water levels are exceptionally high. The absence of trees within the channel helps the water flow quickly. Interestingly, Leipzig once had a similar flood channel for the Pleiße until about 1900. This channel, located in the northwest of the city, managed the flow around the railway embankment for the Leipzig-Großkorbetha line. It ran from near today’s Gohliser Fechnerstraße, where the Pleiße then flowed through Gohlis, and emptied into the Elster near today’s Pohlestraße. The Pleißehochflutbett stands as a quiet guardian, a testament to Leipzig’s proactive approach to flood management. It’s a place where the river’s story, etched in the landscape, reminds us of the power of nature and human ingenuity.