Teubert Bridge – Worth preserving?

In the Berlin borough of Tempelhof-Schöneberg, the Teubert Bridge carries the ring road across the Teltow Canal (TeK) at the 21.696 km point. The main structure, the Teubert Bridge that was constructed in around 1905, is composed under the carriageway of seven riveted steel trusses running parallel to one another.

With a total span of 57.86 m, the superstructure spans the Teltow Canal as a single-span girder with overhanging ends and is supported in the area of the canal bank on heavyweight pillars. The bridge was blown up at the end of the Second World War and reconstructed in the years that followed. The superstructure was extended in 1957. Due to its significance from both a technical and architectural perspective, the Teubert Bridge was entered as a monument in the Berlin list of protected structures.

The fundamental construction elements of the existing bridge are currently over 110 years old. In the last completed building survey, substantial corrosion damage was noted on the underside of the carriageway, and this puts a limit in the medium to long term on the durability of the structural elements and of the overall structure.

The aim of the planning services commissioned from KREBS+KIEFER by WNA Berlin is to restore the complete serviceability and functionality of the bridge. In addition to the necessary financial and technical considerations, the inclusion of the bridge as a listed monument represents a major challenge.

The first steps were to draw up a detailed damage report and to recalculate and determine the remaining life of the existing bridge in order then, in a second phase, to investigate and compare different options with respect to renovation and reconstruction. For technical and financial reasons, the WNA Berlin opted for the reconstruction of the bridge, and KREBS+KIEFER is currently preparing the design planning and structural engineering in work phases 3 and 6.