Iffezheim Lock

The two passages of the lock serve to allow ships and barges to bypass the hydropower station on the French side of the river.

It is one of the heaviest-used locks in Germany, with a daily average of 107 commercial vessels passing through in 2003 and 30 million shipping tonnes per year.

[1][2] In 1840 the Grand Duchy of Baden and France concluded an agreement on Rhine regulation after Johann Gottfried Tulla.

In 1928 the expansion of the Rhine began with the Grand Canal d'Alsace and the first four power stations (Kembs to Vogelgrün), four further barrages in the so-called loop solution (Marckolsheim to Strasbourg) followed in 1959.

At the end of 2011, the water law permit for the installation of a 5th turbine in the Rhine power plant Gambsheim was granted.

The canal, which is modelled on a torrent, consists of 37 individual basins in a row with a water depth of 1.5 m and a total length of 300 m. The Iffezheim fish pass was inaugurated in 2000, Gambsheim was opened in 2006.

The fish pass in Gambsheim, which was built subsequently, underwent a number of design changes based on the experience gained in Iffezheim.