On Wednesday morning, nothing was moving around Gerresheim, and traffic was backed up for several hundred meters between Pöhlenweg and Torfbruchstraße. That was to be expected at the end of the holidays. And this is how Rheinbahn explains the chaos on the streets: “Due to the end of the summer holidays and the start of school, more people are on the road again. Due to the construction work on Ludenberger Straße and the associated closure, there was a lot of traffic on the alternative routes in and around Gerresheim when school started on Wednesday morning,” explains a spokeswoman.
So it was mainly because Ludenberger Strasse was closed. But it was supposed to be at least partially reopened to car traffic when school started. A little later, another spokeswoman confirmed this: “The construction work for the barrier-free expansion of the Pöhlenweg stop is on schedule. The full closure of Ludenberger Strasse lasted until Tuesday. On Wednesday, when school started, the direction of travel towards the city was reopened as planned.”
The closure on both sides has since been extended until Tuesday, as school only started on Wednesday. However, the closure will continue to apply to the trains until September 2nd. After that, the area will be reopened to car and rail traffic, and the construction work is expected to be completely finished on October 13th.
So there must be another reason for the morning chaos. The FDP in District 7 was paying close attention. Because there was obviously some marking work at the Dreherstrasse/Torfbruchstrasse intersection on Wednesday morning. “Due to the complete closure of Ludenberger Strasse and the rail replacement service of the U73, U83 and 709 lines, many Gerresheim residents are dependent on their cars to get to work in the morning. We cannot understand why there had to be an artificial narrowing of the alternative route Pöhlenweg/Torfbruchstrasse on the first day of school,” criticizes André Kiel, FDP parliamentary group leader in District 7. “This is not forward-looking traffic planning,” he adds.
During the course of Wednesday, the city was unable to clarify internally whether, and if so, why, these works, which later appeared to have been stopped, had taken place.
