Fight for the bicycle road: Why Berlin doesn't move in!

Fight for the bicycle road: Why Berlin doesn't move in!

In Berlin, cyclists are faced with an uncertain future: The conversion of Gleimstrasse into Prenzlauer Berg into a bicycle road that was already decided in 2016 is still a long time coming. According to Berlin Live , alleged personnel bottlenecks in the Senate Department for Transport are the reason for the delay. The district is waiting for a downgrading of the Gleimstraße from a main street to a side street so that safety for cyclists can be increased. Senator Ute Bonde apparently sees no need for action and considers the current situation sufficient.

A similar problem is also evident in Wilmersdorf: The residents of Xantener Straße have long been calling for the busy road to be converted into a bicycle road. The traffic city councilor Oliver Schruoffeneger announced in May 2022 that this conversion should take place, but at the moment it remains unclear when this will actually be done. The Tagesspiegel . While a decision to reduce the passage has already been made in 2020, Schruoffeneger sees the Senate Transport Administration as a duty to classify the road as a priority route in the Berlin cycle traffic network. The district office could become active itself, but would then have to bear all costs alone, which is not feasible for the district.

Such obstacles illustrate how difficult it is often to implement traffic policy in Berlin. Cyclists stay in the queue in both cases, while the discussions in the offices continue to drag on.