Thursday, August 1
Berlin Senate puts plans for bicycle superhighways on hold
Almost all of the bicycle superhighways planned for Berlin have been put on hold due to budget strains. According to an announcement from the transport administration, just one of the ten cycle path routes will get the go-ahead. Construction is expected to start soon on the Königsweg-Kronprinzessinnenweg route, which leads through the Grunewald forest towards Wannsee/Potsdam.
As it stands, only 13.8 of the planned 100 kilometres of the cycle path will be built. According to the transport administration, a rough estimate of around €400 million would be needed to complete all the planned paths, as well as the required bicycle parking lots.
Freezing construction of the cycle superhighways has been met with mixed responses. Spokesperson for the Changing Cities mobility association Ragnhild Sørensen has sharply criticised the decision. “If the CDU and SPD now also take the axe to the fast cycle routes, the Berlin cycle network will die and with it the transport transition”, she told rbb. “If we save now, we will have to pay a heavy price in the future,” said the Green Party’s transport spokeswoman, Oda Hassepaß.
Not so surprisingly, support for freezing the plans has come from the AfD. The party’s transport policy spokesman Rolf Wiedenhaupt had criticised the planned cycle paths, calling the project overpriced.
