Berlin’s new cycle routes could be led to a larger extent through protected green spaces and pedestrian areas. This emerges from the first draft for the Berlin cycling network, which is available to the Tagesspiegel. This provides for new cycle routes over a total of 63 kilometers through protected green spaces and 17 kilometers through wooded areas.
In addition, cycle routes through listed areas and pure pedestrian zones are planned, for example through the Brandenburg Gate and over Pariser Platz, Alexanderplatz and Bebelplatz, the Invalidenfriedhof, the forecourt of Schönhausen Palace, the Charlottenburg Palace Park, the old town of Köpenick and Wilmersdorfer Strasse.
The design comes from the transport planner Michael Haase, who was commissioned by the Senate Transport Administration. The plan was presented on September 24th during the presentation of “Cycling Networks and Quality Standards” as part of the “Cycling Plan Workshop”. The “1. Network draft ”comprises a total of 2333 kilometers of new bicycle connections to be created in Berlin.
The Senate Traffic Administration did not want to comment specifically on the network design. Details could not be given “yet because the current interim results are understandably to be treated confidentially,” said spokesman Jan Thomsen. With the cycling plan, one would be “in the middle of the association’s participation, the feedback from the mobility and environmental organizations is only now coming in”. This means that they have to “still be checked, assessed, taken into account”.
According to Thomsen, the final draft of the cycling plan including the cycling network should be available by the end of the year: “Then the signing process for the Senate will come, a Senate resolution is planned for the first quarter of 2021.”
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The core of the draft is the “cycle priority network” presented therein with “connections that are particularly important for cycling, especially connections that are important for the city as a whole”. The largest part of this priority network is to be created using cycle lanes at least 2.50 meters wide. In doing so, “bicycle traffic as part of the environmental network should be given priority over motorized individual traffic” – for example with traffic lights. The priority network, including the approximately 100 kilometers of high-speed cycle connections, should cover a total of around 920 kilometers.
Sharp criticism from pedestrian associations
The Dresden planner Michael Haase, commissioned by the traffic administration, admits that the tour through pedestrian areas in particular is subject to conflict. His plan also envisages routes in many protected green spaces. These are:
- the great zoo,
- the Fritz-Schloß-Park,
- the Hasenheide,
- the Tempelhofer Feld,
- the Görlitzer Park,
- the Gleisdreieckpark,
- the Treptower Park,
- the Volkspark Wilmersdorf,
- the Mauerpark,
- the Schönhausen palace gardens,
- the park at the White Lake,
- die Jungfernheide,
- the Springpfuhlpark in Marzahn
- and the Bäkepark in Steglitz.
When planning the rapid cycle connections, the state’s own Infravelo also provided for guided tours through parks. Corresponding sections are to be redesigned as green spaces and converted into traffic areas.
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Representatives of pedestrian associations have already sharply criticized these plans. “The cycle superhighways are not compatible with the Berlin Green Area Act,” says Roland Stimpel, chairman of the Fuss association. The ADFC cycling club welcomes a route through green spaces in principle, but also points out possible conflicts with pedestrians. It is therefore important to “separate pedestrian and bicycle traffic from one another in order to avoid conflicts and accidents. The authorities should also clarify this legally. “
Traffic management confirms possible conflicts
The draft of the cycle priority network now penetrates even further into areas previously reserved for pedestrians only. These include traffic-calmed areas:
- Schiller Street,
- Pestalozzistrasse,
- Crooked road
- Knobelsdorffstrasse,
- Seelingstraße,
- Waldstraße,
- Bugenhagenstraße,
- Wiclefstrasse
- and Senefelderstrasse.
In the future, cycling will also run through pedestrian zones, including:
- Wilmersdorfer Strasse,
- Breite Strasse / Spandau,
- Charlottenstraße,
- Alexanderplatz,
- Georgenstrasse,
- Hedwigskirchgasse,
- Mehringplatz,
- Place at Südstern station,
- Alt-Tegel
- and Gorkistraße.
When asked, the traffic administration stated that routes through parks and pedestrian areas were actually possible. “Overlaps with green spaces and other routes that are preferred for pedestrian traffic were avoided as far as possible when creating the cycle traffic network, but not fundamentally excluded,” says spokesman Jan Thomsen. However, the proportion in green spaces should be “only very small”.
In the further planning process it should now be weighed up “whether and to what extent a conflict-free tour is possible in these cases – or whether an alternative route must be found”.
