Across the railway tracks stands the Behmstraßenbrücke. A seemingly simple bridge yet its story is rich and complex. The Behmstraßenbrücke connects the Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding districts. It was originally built between 1892 and 1893 by the Royal Prussian Railway. This was long before the city of Berlin as we know it today existed. The Greater Berlin area was created in 1920. The Behmstraßenbrücke then linked the Wedding and Prenzlauer Berg districts.
The Second World War left the Behmstraßenbrücke unscathed. It remained functional. However the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961 changed everything. The bridge was closed to normal traffic. A temporary steel bridge was built for border crossing. When the wall came down in 1989 the focus shifted to restoring damaged connections.
The Behmstraßenbrücke however was in terrible condition. It couldn’t handle car traffic in 1990. The bridge was demolished. It was part of the Berlin inner ring road construction project. New track layouts meant the old bridge had to go. Demolition started in January 1994. Then came the rebuild.
On November 18 2002 the Behmstraßenbrücke reopened. It was the final missing link between Prenzlauer Berg and Wedding. The bridge is a steel composite structure. It’s almost 194 meters long and about 20 meters wide. The Deutsche Bahn AG and the state of Berlin funded the construction. The total cost was around 12 million euros.
The Behmstraßenbrücke stands tall a symbol of connection. A testament to resilience and reconstruction. It’s a quiet observer of Berlin’s history. Its story continues to unfold with each passing day. Its existence connects not just two areas but also two parts of Berlin’s past present and future. The Behmstraßenbrücke a bridge to history.