The short answer
The Rhine is crossed in Düsseldorf via the Rheinkniebrücke, the Oberkasseler Brücke, the Theodor-Heuss-Brücke and the Josef-Kardinal-Frings-Brücke, among others. On bridges the subject is crosswind, lane discipline and long curves; in tunnels it is lights, distance and the change in brightness at the exit. Both belong in your training.
A bridge is not a special road until it is. Halfway across the Rhine there is no shelter at all, the carriageway is exposed, and a car that was running calmly is suddenly pushed sideways — noticeably so in a light one.
What counts on the bridges
Both hands on the wheel, calm corrections rather than snatching, and a lane position you hold actively. Then the lane choice: the approaches to the Rheinkniebrücke and the Oberkasseler Brücke sort themselves out early, and realising on the bridge that you are in the wrong lane leaves you no exit. Lorries and buses add to the wind effect as you pass them.
What applies in a tunnel
- Dipped headlights on before you enter — not once you are in the dark
- Sunglasses off, distance increased, speed matched to the signs
- No turning, no reversing, no stopping except in an emergency
- In a queue: hazard lights, emergency corridor, engine off if it lasts
- It dazzles at the exit — your eyes need a moment, and your speed should allow for it
By the grip. The hands migrate upwards on the wheel and tighten, often without anyone noticing, and the line through the lane gets squarer rather than calmer. We say it at the same place every time, just before the approach — and by the second run over the same bridge it has usually gone.
The sun over the Rhine
In the late afternoon it sits due west, directly over the left bank. Heading towards Oberkassel then means several minutes of poor visibility of lights, brake lamps and pedestrians — and it teaches something that applies daily in winter: visor down, more distance, and a clean windscreen, because any film on the glass turns it opaque against the light.
Not a special case in the test
A bridge or a tunnel can come up in the test and will not be announced. There is no fixed route anyway — what awaits you instead is set out separately.
The motorways around the city connect straight onto these crossings — what gets practised around Düsseldorf and what the four compulsory hours cover are posts of their own.
What to take away
Bridges and tunnels are not an extra topic, they are two places where visibility and road surface change at the same time. Stay calm there and you have learned to work with the car rather than against it — and that applies everywhere afterwards.