From Hildburg Bruns
New cycle paths should no longer be so wide on Berlin streets. The CDU parliamentary group proposes that they should be half a meter narrower on average in their planned changes to the Berlin Mobility Act. Farewell to the Greens’ strict centimeter dictate!
Instead, a consideration should be made based on traffic volume and importance. Specifically: cycle paths should be at least 1.50, usually 2 meters wide (now 2.50). And cycle lanes are usually 1.85 m, dashed protective strips on the asphalt 1.50 m (at least 1.25 m).
Cycling activist Ragnhild Sörensen (59, “Changing Cities”) criticizes this: “The narrower, the fewer users. But we have to plan for future traffic so that there are no traffic jams. Cargo bikes cannot be overtaken like this.”
► Also expressly mentioned in the CDU draft: renovation of existing cycle paths should be given priority over the construction of new routes.
Cyclists ride on the protected cycle path on Karl-Marx-Straße in Neukölln Photo: DAVIDS/Sven Darmer
The amended and expanded law, which the CDU MPs want to discuss on Tuesday and then also has to be coordinated with the coalition partner SPD, covers more than 90 pages. What is striking is that all passages against motorists have been deleted and commercial traffic is given greater consideration.
“Mobility for all instead of green ban ideology,” announces parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner (54). “Berliners decide for themselves how best to get through the city. We will strengthen the streets and intersections, significantly expand public transport and renovate and build new cycle paths. We are discussing the legal framework for this.”
Some more points:
► School routes should, if possible, be visually marked with footsteps on sidewalks.
► Future traffic lights should, if possible, count down the remaining clearance time for pedestrians as a countdown.
► Temporary crossings (pop-up zebra crossings) should be created in front of daycare centers, schools and nursing homes until permanent markings are ready.
The wide cycle path is separated from cars by bollards Photo: Janine Schmitz/picture alliance/photothek
It is also about the promotion of new forms of mobility by the state of Berlin, such as delivery drones, a suspension railway, air taxis, a freight tram as a pilot project with the BVG, and autonomous driving.
CDU transport expert Johannes Kraft (46) to the BZ: “Cable cars, as part of public transport, should overcome larger obstacles where it makes sense – for example from the Wannsee S-Bahn station across the water to Kladow.”
So far there is only one cable car in Berlin over the Gardens of the World in Marzahn Photo: picture alliance / imageBROKER
Berlin should also promote the construction of photovoltaics in P&R parking lots and along the city highway.