New protected cycle path opened in Frankfurter Allee – residents are demanding a speed limit of 30

It’s no ordinary cycle path that was opened on Friday afternoon by Berlin Transport Senator Bettina Jarasch and Transport Councilor Annika Gerold (both Greens) between Voigtstrasse and Proskauer Strasse on the north side of the Frankfurter Allee with new protective elements as permanent.

The former pop-up cycle path, which was set up by the district and the senate during the 2020 corona pandemic, not only leads directly past the Friedrichshain town hall. In 2021, he gained notoriety after a fatal accident.

“Perhaps you remember: a van parked on the cycle path, a cyclist had to dodge and was run over,” said Jarasch. This refers to Laëtitia Graffart, who was only 37 years old. After Graffart’s death, her relatives and cycling activists called for more protection for cyclists on the streets of Berlin.

Leitboy, guardrails, red signals

Now extensive safety measures have been taken so that “something like this can’t happen again,” said the transportation senator. Orange plastic screens on the guardrails, so-called Leitboys, now separate the cycle path from the busy Frankfurter Allee, while red markings on the asphalt are intended to warn drivers of possible danger spots. Furthermore, the cycle path no longer passes over the pedestrian path, so it is no longer a so-called Hochbordradweg.

“It’s a piece Traffic safety plus for Berlin – for cyclists, but also for drivers. You no longer have to be afraid of causing an accident,” Jarasch said.

But there were also criticisms at the inauguration. For example, the activists of the residents’ initiative “Frankfurter Allee Tempo 30” had gathered in front of the city hall: the protected cycle paths alone were not enough for them. in a petition In December 2022 they called for the introduction of Tempo 30 on Frankfurter Allee, signed by more than 1000 people.

We pierce the union at all levels.

Bettina Jarasch (Greens), Senator for Transport, on the issue of 30 km/h on the Frankfurter Allee

“Tempo 30 is another extremely important piece”, encouraged the transport senator to the activists. But the Frankfurter Allee is a federal highway and the arrangement of Tempo 30 is not easy, mainly due to the traffic regulations.

“We are drilling through the federal government at every level,” Jarasch said. The traffic administration is now trying to go further with the settlement through the factors of air pollution or noise pollution. The initiative had already reported it in December.

Transport commissioner Annika Gerold added that all twelve district councilors wrote a letter to Transport Minister Volker Wissing in early October and called for a comprehensive road and traffic law reform.

“We want to be faster with bike lanes,” Jarasch said. The construction work on the cycle path on the Frankfurter Allee has been going on for “just under six months” since October. However, it has been nearly two years since the fatal crash and stabilization. When asked why, the district office points out that the costs requested in the Senate could only be paid when the budget passes in summer 2022.

Initiatives also express criticism

The ADFC Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district group, which was also present at the opening, welcomes the consolidation as a success and praises the conversion of almost all car parking spaces to bicycle parking spaces as well as the red markings at danger points. The unsecured retractable cycleway was “unacceptable from the start”, as the fatal accident later proved.

You’d still be reluctant to let a child drive alone there.

Ragnhild Sørensen, Sprecherin Initiative Changing City

However, ADFC spokesman Markus Henn criticized the innovations: “The floor strips of the protective elements are obviously not designed for the loads on the Frankfurter Allee, as they were already damaged in two places when opened.” – “because even in front of the Plaza shopping center there is not enough space for bicycles and pedestrians together”.

Changing Cities also criticizes that protective elements could be “much more stable”. “You would still be reluctant to let a child drive there alone,” initiative spokeswoman Ragnhild Sørensen said. “At a rate of 30, however, objective and subjective safety would increase dramatically,” she agreed. In the end, the crossing areas of the new 500m cycle path remained “as almost always in Berlin – unchanged”.

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