In the next few days, the Frankfurt office for road construction and development wants to start renovating the road surface in parts of Berliner Straße.

According to experts, this is urgently needed.

The office will then no longer mark the street, an important east-west connection in downtown Frankfurt, as it was before.

Rather, from the current four lanes – two in each direction – only two will remain for motorized traffic in the future, one in each direction.

Instead, according to the traffic department, bike paths, delivery zones and e-scooter spaces will be created on the vacated area.

Mechthild Harting

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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According to Stefan Majer (Die Grünen), head of the transport department, the reason for this surprising rescheduling is the fact that the tram stop at the end of Berliner Strasse, where it merges into Battonnstrasse, has to be expanded.

As reported, the Verkehrsgesellschaft Frankfurt (VGF) has ordered new, longer trams in order to be able to transport more passengers with each train.

Stops must now be expanded for these new 40-meter wagons, the first of which are to be used for the winter timetable.

After all, the previous trains are only 30 meters long.

The new cars will be used on the heavily frequented tram line 11 between the Frankfurt districts of Höchst and Fechenheim.

With a total of three stations along this route, the station conversion is not entirely uncomplicated, according to the department: at the Galluswarte, at the main station and at the Börneplatz stop on Battonnstraße.

"The longer trams require longer stops," notes Majer in his statement.

For Battonnstraße, this means that the right-hand lane to the east "must be removed for car traffic".

In fact, the street is particularly narrow at this point, just before the Kurt-Schumacher-Straße intersection, so that the expansion of the bus stop leaves little room for traffic planners for car traffic.

According to Majer, the remaining area is still wide enough for a bike lane.

But why is this bike lane designed for the entire Berliner Straße?

"The performance of Berliner Strasse depends largely on the intersection of Battonnstrasse and Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse," explains Majer's advisor and designated successor, Wolfgang Siefert.

Traffic is often backed up there, especially for those who wanted to turn north onto Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse.

According to Siefert, leaving Berliner Strasse unchanged with four lanes but narrowing the road before the critical point of the intersection would only lead to traffic jams.

In the long term, the intersection and the fact that traffic does not flow northbound must be taken into account.

According to Siefert, the fact that the entire Berliner Straße now has bike lanes is only “a consequence of the tram expansion”.

Majer even speaks of a "waste product".

However, both Green politicians are not disappointed with this development.

Berliner Strasse is an important corridor through downtown Frankfurt, says Majer.

"We are pleased to be able to convert these to be bicycle-friendly in conjunction with the expansion of public transport," said the city council.

Full closure during the Easter holidays

The CDU parliamentary group in Römer sees this very differently.

The planned one-lane traffic routing on Berliner Strasse in each direction is a "meaning with serious consequences", criticizes the traffic policy spokesman for the CDU, Frank Nagel.

New downtown traffic jams are programmed.

The quality of stay much invoked by the Roman coalition is not achieved in this way.

The complicated intersection of Battonnstrasse and Kurt-Schumacher-Strasse could cause even more traffic jams on Berliner Strasse in the future.

Nagel misses a convincing traffic concept for Frankfurt.

The coalition of the Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt im Römer still owes that.

The green city councilor Majer "approvedly accepts" the additional burden on other inner-city streets and an "emission-intensive slowdown in car traffic", criticizes Nagel.

In fact, the passive collector at the Börnestraße stop, which measures the nitrogen oxide pollution, has always advertised very high values ​​- among the highest in Frankfurt.

For motorists, the renovation of Berliner Strasse initially means restrictions in the coming weeks.

The road construction department wants to organize the work in sections so that there is always one lane for motorized traffic on the road in each direction.

According to the experts, a complete closure of the Fahrgasse between Töngesgasse and Berliner Straße is only necessary for the work in the area of ​​the intersection of Berliner Straße and Fahrgasse.

This closure is to be placed on the Hessian Easter holidays, i.e. between April 11th and 25th.

During this time, the Töngesgasse at the eastern end becomes a dead end.