The Köhlbrandbrücke, a slender cable-stayed bridge sweeping over the western harbour, is the most graceful piece of infrastructure in Hamburg. The bridge is 4 kilometres long with a 520-metre main span; from a distance, the white pylons against the brown river and the green steel uprights have an almost theatrical lightness compared with the bulk of the container terminals it crosses.
It is not the most accessible sight — there is no pedestrian access — but it is visible from harbour cruises, from the southern Elbe shore at Steinwerder, and along the road from the Old Elbe Tunnel toward the southern docks. The DOM funfair and various festivals regularly use it as a backdrop. Plans to replace it with a wider, taller bridge are now well underway; this iteration may not be here in ten years.