Tuesday, December 2
From May 2026, construction will commence on Mühlendammbrücke, a vital east-west connection between Alexanderplatz and Potsdamer Platz.
The concrete structure, built in 1968, faces a danger of collapsing due to its construction with the same Hennigsdorfer clamp steel that was installed in Dresden’s Carolabrücke, which collapsed in 2024. With 72,000 vehicles passing over it per day, Berlin’s Mühlendammbrücke edges closer to its load capacity.
People have argued for years that the structure should be replaced. Now the transport administration under Senator Ute Bonde (CDU) has determined its demolition and reconstruction in a move that is faster than expected. Stating that “an accelerated procurement procedure for the construction services is urgently needed,” they make it clear that there is a “continuous latent risk of tension steel fractures”.
Four years ago, a Danish architectural firm won a competition to reinvent the Mühlendamm Brücke. A tentative deadline of three years and three months has been given for the construction of this new design, and while 2,400 cubic metres will be removed from the old bridge, the new one will require twice as much material.
