The street should become the perfect figurehead for ecological urban design. This is a luxury renovation that we should do without, says Gunnar Schupelius.
The street Unter den Linden is to be completely redesigned between the Brandenburg Gate and the State Opera. This has already been reported. But now it is becoming clear what time and financial scope this plan includes. The conversion of the roadways and sidewalks will take three years and cost 25 million euros. This is what the Senate said on request.
On the one hand, the famous street should become more beautiful and, on the other hand, “take into account the requirements of climate change”. This means that drivers will have less space and bicycles, buses and pedestrians will have more.
“Specific planning, coordination and talks on this are expected to begin this year,” said Jan Thomsen, spokesman for Transport Senator Jarasch. The road surface on Unter den Linden has been renewed since autumn 2021. Only one lane remains for motorized private transport, buses and bicycles each get their own lane.
It’s going slowly. Large parts of the road are blocked off. As always in Berlin, there is little work, there are traffic jams every day. When this trouble is over, only an interim solution will be reached. The actual conversion begins later, then it will be closed again.
What should the street look like? There are several designs. All envisage a wider median, wider footpaths and one lane each for cars, buses and bicycles. In one of the drafts you can even see two more central reservations, which are laid out between the bike and bus lanes.
► Read all of Gunnar Schupelius’ columns
In any case, it is a luxury renovation. The street should become the perfect figurehead for ecological urban design. It will certainly look nice, but does this makeover actually make sense and do we have the money to spare? On closer inspection we don’t have it left and there is already enough space for pedestrians, cyclists and buses.
Strictly speaking, there is no street in Berlin that could offer more space for all road users at the same time than Unter den Linden. Since the subway line 5 has been running underneath, less space is needed for buses upstairs.
And putting aside the cost and purpose of the makeover, we’d love to finally be able to enjoy the road back to normal.
In fact, that hadn’t been possible for a long time: for eight years, from April 2012 to December 2020, the section between the Brandenburg Gate and Charlottenstraße was like a single sandy desert with construction containers and dirty fences because of the extension of the U 5.
Unter den Linden has been dug long enough. We don’t need another construction site there. If the median were better maintained and planted, the road would be nice enough as it is.
Is Gunnar Schupelius right? Call: 030/2591 73153 or email: [email protected]