Traffic
Cars back on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin
Cars drive on Friedrichstrasse. The roughly 500-metre-long section of Friedrichstrasse has been open to traffic again since July 1st. photo
© Christophe Gateau/dpa
It was the fourth change in a short period of time: car traffic is rolling over Berlin’s Friedrichstrasse again. That was decided by the ruling CDU. Pedestrians and cyclists have to limit themselves again.
This is the fourth time that the type of use of the approximately 500 meter long section of the shopping street in Mitte has changed.
The former traffic senator Bettina Jarasch (Greens) had the section closed to car traffic for the first time in August 2020 as part of a traffic test. For more than two years it was only available to cyclists and pedestrians. The measure was highly controversial even at the time.
The Higher Administrative Court upheld the lawsuit filed by a wine merchant from Charlottenstrasse last year. She did not want to accept that no cars were allowed to drive on Friedrichstrasse, even though the year-long traffic test had already expired. Jarasch then rededicated part of Friedrichstrasse by decree for pedestrians and cyclists. Motorists have therefore had to look for other ways since the end of January, and Friedrichstrasse was blocked again for them.
The new CDU-led Senate under Governing Mayor Kai Wegner is much more open to car traffic than Jarasch. The Christian Democratic Senator for Transport, Manja Schreiner, has now reopened the section for motor vehicles. However, that is not set in stone: “We need a master plan process to take residents and traders with us,” Schreiner recently told the German Press Agency. The aim is a comprehensive traffic concept for the entire area. “Then it’s quite possible that Friedrichstrasse can be redesigned to accommodate pedestrians and cyclists.”