Traffic Tower at Potsdamer Platz Berlin, Traffic light tower at Potsdamer Platz, Germany
The Traffic Tower at Potsdamer Platz was a five-sided steel structure about 8 meters tall with clocks and traffic signals on each side. A police officer sat in the covered cabin controlling the three-stage light signal system with a lever to coordinate vehicle and pedestrian traffic.
The tower was inaugurated on December 15, 1924, and was Germany's first traffic light installation at what was then Europe's busiest intersection. Its location was so important for the growing city that the installation was dismantled in 1937 to make room for new railway station construction.
The tower embodied Berlin's pride in modern technology during the 1920s and became a favorite subject for photographers and visitors documenting the city's rapid growth. Its design showed how the city wanted to shape its infrastructure and made traffic control visible as a symbol of progress.
The site of the former tower is centrally located at Potsdamer Platz, a busy transport hub with good connections nearby. Today the exact remains are difficult to spot, so it helps to research the historical location beforehand.
The tower was designed by Jean Krämer and pioneered mechanized traffic control long before computer systems existed. This early solution to a growing traffic problem made it a model for other European cities that developed similar systems.
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