Storkower Straße footbridge, Railway crossing footbridge in Prenzlauer Berg, Germany.
The Storkower Straße footbridge crosses the Berlin Ringbahn railway and connects different sections of the Pankow district along its elevated structure. The construction allows pedestrians to move between neighborhoods without descending to track level.
A first wooden footbridge about 100 metres long was built in 1881, the year the Zentralviehhof livestock market opened. The steel bridge spanning the whole site was built from 1937 to July 1940: 420 metres long, four metres wide and six metres high, resting on 22 supports. Allied bombs destroyed it in the Second World War; it was rebuilt by 1951 and extended to 505 metres in 1976–77.
Berliners nicknamed the bridge "Langer Jammer" (long misery), also "Langes Elend" or "Rue de Galopp". The street Zum Langen Jammer in the Eldenaer Viertel, built on the former Zentralviehhof grounds, takes its name from this nickname.
Only the 130-metre northeastern section remains, running from the S-Bahn platform Storkower Straße over the Ringbahn tracks to an exit on Hermann-Blankenstein-Straße. The 85-metre stretch toward Fennpfuhl, rebuilt from 1996 to 1997, has two barrier-free lifts. The stairway at the northeastern end was renewed by the end of 2003.
Local residents have given the structure humorous names like 'Langer Jammer' and 'Langes Elend' that reflect the everyday challenges of crossing. These nicknames are deeply rooted in the neighborhood's local speech.
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