Teerhof Bridge

View from the middle of the bridge towards Schlachte (there are spectators of an event on the access stairs there)

The Teerhof Bridge in Bremen is a pedestrian bridge over the Weser . It connects the Weser peninsula Teerhof with the Schlachte and Bremen's old town .

History and description

The Teerhof Bridge represents a connection between the old and new towns of Bremen , which is reserved for pedestrians. Previously, pedestrian connections were only available via two road bridges , each with footpaths and cycle paths - the Wilhelm-Kaisen-Brücke , which borders the Teerhof on the southeast side, and the Bürgermeister-Smidt-Brücke , which spans the northwestern tip of the Teerhof - Peninsula runs. Already in the 1960s there were plans to set up an “axis of joy” for pedestrians from the Bürgerpark to the Teerhof. At that time, the former Senate Building Director Franz Rosenberg was thinking of a bridge in the style of the Ponte Vecchio at the height of the Martinikirche . The Teerhof Bridge was then planned elsewhere to form an extension of the newly created Heimlichenstrasse.

In addition, the Teerhof Bridge was arranged roughly in the middle between the two road bridges, the Wilhelm Kaisen Bridge and the Mayor Smidt Bridge. The (additional) pedestrian connection created in this way from Bremen's old town and Schlachte to Teerhof will be continued from the peninsula over the long-standing pedestrian and bicycle bridge over the weir of the Kleiner Weser to Bremen Neustadt.

Access stairs to the bridge on the Teerhof; Cyclists can access the bridge via sliding ramps

The Teerhof Bridge was built as the result of an architectural competition in 1992/93 based on designs by the Bremen architect Dieter Quiram . The client was the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. The superstructure was built by a joint venture between Howaldswerke Deutsche Werft Ag in Kiel and the Dortmund company Dörner. The substructures were carried out by the construction company Aug. Prien GmbH & Co. KG.

This transported the 420-ton steel superstructure of the box girder bridge fully assembled on a floodable pontoon to the installation site. The construction of the bridge took 14 months. The construction costs amounted to 13 million DM compared to an estimate of 5.5 million. The reason was not least the significant changes compared to Quiram's original design.

The bridge has a length of about 117.7 meters (m) and span widths of 100.7 m and 16.0 m. The substructures were made of reinforced concrete , the superstructure in composite construction. The hollow body is in green, the railing in blue. The pedestrian path over the bridge is 5.0 m wide at the narrowest point and 12.0 m wide at the widest. Towards the Schlachte, the building is widened by its wide staircase, which serves as a grandstand for events.

The curved bridge is accessible not only by stairs but also by elevators. These elevators, which previously could only be used with the euro key , have been freely accessible from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. since 2014 . The fact that the Teerhof Bridge can only be reached via stairs and elevators is due to the fact that it was built higher than originally intended. The reason was a requirement of the Waterways and Shipping Directorate . With reference to the guideline that all new bridges must be adapted to the dimensions of future European ships , the authorities insisted on a passage height of 9.5 m by 65 m width. The neighboring Weser bridges do not meet this requirement due to their age.