At the time of writing, there are 1,481 of us watching the live footage on YouTube: slowly, at the bottom of the frame, a couple of industrial loaders distribute sand over the S-Bahn tracks, while over in the right-hand corner, the crab-like claw of a demolition excavator pinches and pulls at the concrete bridge, ripping it to pieces, grey dust rising over the railway tracks, past the Kleingartenkolonie and into the April sky.
At least 71 municipal bridges [are considered] at critical risk of cracking
This is the demolition of the Ringbahn Bridge/A100 – a major artery for the city, normally supporting 230,000 vehicles each day. Cracks were first discovered in the structure in early March, but, initially, the city decided to do nothing more than keep an eye on it. A few weeks later, those cracks had widened, and the bridge was deemed incapable of bearing its load. Together with a neighbouring bridge, it had to be demolished. That demolition is expected to be completed by April 25 – but that’s just the first step. Construction of a replacement is expected to take “at least two years”, according to Autobahn GmbH Nordost spokesperson Ralph Brodel.
Right now, you get the feeling that everything is falling apart. A recent report from the Berlin Senate revealed that only one in five bridges in the city are considered in “good” condition, with at least 71 municipal bridges at critical risk of cracking. In fact, the true number is almost certainly higher: motorway bridges like the A100 are a federal responsibility, so those did not fall under the remit of the report. Berlin’s infrastructure is crumbling, and the feeling that our politicians are asleep at the wheel was not much assuaged by the fact that, little more than a week after the A100 was suddenly closed, the Berlin transport authority posted a job on LinkedIn for a “structural engineer in the field of bridge/civil engineering” – a role that would include assessing the stability of existing structures. Clearly, they’ve got their work cut out.
Thanks to Germany’s self-imposed poverty – effectively written into its constitution with the Schuldenbremse, or debt brake – we’ve been living through years of chronic underinvestment: cuts to arts funding, rubbish uncollected in the streets. If we can’t afford to let vulnerable kids in Neukölln go on school trips, where will we find the money to rebuild half the city? A recent study by the Investitionsbank Berlin (IBB) estimated the cost of modernising Berlin’s infrastructure over the next 10 years at €108 billion – without which our roads, railways, bridges, schools, universities, water and heating networks will continue to crack up, break down, and scrimp by.
A quick look at the Berlin government’s track record does little to restore confidence: notoriously, the BER airport was mired in corruption, arrived nine years late and cost €7 billion, around three times over budget. And our city has seen its share of Millionengräber, or money pits, in recent years. In January 2025, the Berlin Senate’s cosy relationship with Austrian real estate conglomerate Signa immediately cost the city €45 million when the company filed for bankruptcy – but the true cost may be significantly higher (not to mention that it was Signa who managed to shut down the U2 for a few months after cracking a subway tunnel by drilling too close, at further cost to the taxpayer).
Returning to the bridges: Berlin’s CDU-SPD coalition even managed to shock their Green parliamentary colleagues recently when, before hearing from appointed experts at a committee meeting on the state of municipal infrastructure, they invited representatives from the construction firm Max Bögl to give a PowerPoint presentation about their modular prefabricated bridges. This blatant sales pitch prompted one politician to describe the event as “pure lobbying” and “lacking any sense of shame”. Yet these are the people meant to steer us out of this mess?
If we can’t afford to let vulnerable kids in Neukölln go on school trips, where will we find the money to rebuild half the city?
The newly-formed federal government is ending the Schuldenbremse – sort of, and mostly for defence spending (“virtually the only additional expense we don’t need”, according to Die Linke leader Ines Schwerdtner). Some of that money will trickle down to Berlin. Of the anticipated €500 billion Sondervermögen, or special investment fund, €100 billion is expected to go directly to the federal states. Berlin might be able to use €417 million of that to invest in new projects. But that still leaves the city far short of the €108 billion estimated as necessary to bring its infrastructure up to grade.
Essentially, Germany has chosen to lift its long-standing austerity policy in order to remilitarise – but perhaps it would be better off trying to rebuild its own cities before it arms itself with the equipment necessary to destroy someone else’s. Just like with its roads, bridges and subway tunnels, in the politics of this city, cracks are beginning to show.
