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Turnaround in traffic: pop-up bike lanes and superblocks - what German cities can learn abroad

2020-10-27T14:15:32.340Z


Less noise and emissions, more space for bicycles and pedestrians - that's what many cities want. But does the road conversion work? A SPIEGEL analysis shows why German planners can still learn a lot abroad.


Icon: enlarge

Photo: The mirror

The corona pandemic has radically changed the lives of many Germans.

Hundreds of thousands became infected and more than 10,000 died.

Daycare centers were closed for months.

Employees had to work short-time, many jobs are at risk.

But every crisis also offers opportunities - for example to promote the much-discussed transport turnaround.

In March and April the streets were as empty as usual on public holidays.

Many people switched from public transport to bicycles because the risk of infection is lower than on a full bus.

And the cities reacted: Berlin, Paris, Vienna, Leipzig, Munich and many others set up so-called pop-up cycle paths.

These provisional paths, mostly laid out on the carriageway, were intended to accommodate the growing number of cyclists - and thus enable distance between people and increase road safety.

As a rule, the bike paths were separated from the car lanes by large stands.

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April 2020: Establishment of a pop-up cycle path in Berlin-Kreuzberg

Photo: Jörg Carstensen / picture alliance / dpa

City planners had long worked out concepts for wider cycle paths.

The sharp drop in car traffic due to the corona crisis now made it possible to implement it quickly - on a temporary basis and not always in the best possible quality.

But how do such interventions in the street space affect?

What happens to car traffic when it loses space in favor of cyclists?

How much courage do transport politicians in Berlin or Munich have compared to their colleagues in Paris or Barcelona?

SPIEGEL examined six traffic turnaround projects from Europe.

Some were designed before the corona crisis - others in response to it, such as the pop-up cycle paths.

For the analysis, SPIEGEL evaluated data from the navigation provider TomTom.

They show exactly how car traffic has changed.

Where did it become more viscous?

Did drivers switch to other roads?

Has the total number of cars decreased?

More space for bikes: pop-up paths in Berlin and Paris

Anyone who removes a lane from a car and turns it into a new cycle path creates traffic jams.

That is a common belief.

But the data analysis of the pop-up cycle paths in Paris and Berlin shows that it is not that easy.

Of all the metropolises worldwide, Paris was probably the most determined to set up temporary cycle paths.

On May 11, there were already 45 kilometers of the so-called Coronapists - and it should be at least 60 kilometers.

One of the longest sections is the 3.6-kilometer east-west connection between Place de la Bastille and Place de la Concorde.

It leads directly past the Louvre on Rue de Rivoli and has been completely closed to car traffic since May.

There were also many other extra-wide routes, such as those between Porte d'Orleans in the south and Les Halles in the center.

They often relieve the burden on busy underground or S-Bahn lines running in parallel.

Berlin couldn't keep up.

The authorities only set up 27 kilometers of pop-up cycle paths there, the existence of which is now being disputed in court.

The longest contiguous sections are in Kreuzberg along the U-Bahn line 1 between Halleschem Ufer and Kottbusser Tor and in Charlottenburg on Kantstrasse - see map.

Paris and Berlin redistributed the street space and that had consequences: In both cities there were significantly more cyclists, as counts showed.

At the same time, significantly fewer cars were driving along the new pop-up cycle paths.

They weren't making any headway there either.

Many drivers turned to roads running parallel to one another.

The traffic increased there, but it did not jam more.

This effect was particularly evident in Paris.

Because of the full closure of the Rue de Rivoli along the Louvre, car traffic shifted to the riverside streets south of the Seine.

According to TomTom data, traffic there grew by 10 to 25 percent.

The average speed of cars, which was already low in Paris, only sank on the quayside for a short distance not far from Place de la Concorde.

The numbers from Berlin were similar.

Car traffic fell by 10 to 40 percent along the longest pop-up cycle path parallel to the U1.

The vehicles were on average also slower - but only in the eastern area near the Kottbusser Tor.

Because of the pop-up cycle path, cars only have two lanes in each direction.

One of them is quickly blocked by a stopping delivery van or car - drivers have to be patient.

On Halleschen Ufer, traffic flowed even better because there were fewer drivers.

However, the cars have not disappeared.

TomTom data shows that many drivers turned to parallel streets south of the subway line.

There was an increase of 10 to 20 percent.

This did not result in additional traffic jams.

Similar effects had shown in Munich on Kapuzinerstraße, a once four-lane driveway into the center from the southeast.

One car lane was converted into a wheel lane there as early as 2013.

According to ADAC, the street is said to have developed into a congestion point in the city.

The city, however, celebrated the renovation as a success.

In fact, the traffic in Kapuzinerstraße was 0.5 to 0.7 km / h slower than in 2012, which, however, could be observed throughout Munich.

Between 9 a.m. and 10 a.m., traffic in half of Munich's streets is even slower than in Kapuzinerstraße.

The traffic on Kapuzinerstraße even increased slightly despite the removal of one lane - by 5 to 15 percent.

The examples show that new bike lanes at the expense of lanes can slow down traffic at certain points.

But they do not automatically slow down car traffic.

Also because neighboring roads can cope with alternative traffic surprisingly well.

Bollards and superblocks: Barcelona versus Berlin

Better cycle paths are an important part of the traffic turnaround - but often traffic turnaround simply means less car traffic.

Perhaps the most radical variant of this is called the superblock.

Cars are no longer allowed to cross entire residential areas there.

Their way is partially blocked, for example with seating groups.

The entrance for residents remains possible.

Barcelona sees itself as a model city for superblocks, which are called Superilla there.

The authorities had several of them built in recent years.

The city's checkerboard network of streets helped, and traffic can easily be guided around a block on parallel streets.

The best known existing superblock is the one at the Sant Antoni market.

After the renovation, traffic around the Sant Antoni market has mainly shifted to the street running to the west - the Calle de Vladomat.

There are now twice as many cars on the road.

In the calmed sections, traffic has decreased significantly - to around 15 percent.

Practically nothing has changed in terms of traffic in the busy roads to the north.

In Berlin, too, there is always talk of superblocks.

But actually so far it has mainly been about bollards and so-called diagonal barriers.

They should make it more difficult to cross a neighborhood and thus reduce through traffic.

The best-known example is the Samariterkiez in Friedrichshain.

Trucks and buses used the quarter as a quick connection between an industrial park in the north and Frankfurter Allee.

The worst hit was Pettenkoferstraße, where there is also a school.

Proskauer Strasse, which runs parallel, is actually intended for through traffic.

But this route was apparently not fast enough for many drivers because of the traffic lights.

After protests by residents, the quarter was traffic-calmed with bollards in three places in mid-August 2019 - see markings on the map.

However, they do not completely block the passage - the bollards can be avoided by turning and driving to the next cross street.

Traffic in the three bollard streets fell by 35-75 percent.

Many cars switched to the larger streets to the east and north of the neighborhood, where traffic grew by 20 to 40 percent.

The through traffic did not disappear completely, however, as some motorists bypassed the bollards on cross streets, where the - albeit small - traffic volume doubled or quadrupled.

Because some drivers drove way too fast, thresholds were laid - for example in front of a daycare center, where a limit of 10 km / h applies.

In the Samariterkiez, however, the bollards continue to cause disputes.

Many are happy about the greatly reduced traffic.

But there is also strong criticism because the roads in the district are lengthened for cars.

Some residents even fear that rents will rise because of the bollards.

Because more people would like to live in a quieter area, and the pressure on the limited living space is increasing.

The case shows what fierce debates a few polls can trigger.

German cities are still a long way from real superblocks, not least because of the many cars that park their streets.

These would have to disappear - in multi-storey car parks that hardly exist.

Barcelona, ​​on the other hand, wants to implement the superblock concept in other districts of the city.

The car-free road: failed in Tübingen

They are often found in the Netherlands - but few in Germany: roads where cars are not allowed to drive, but cyclists are allowed to.

The most prominent example is Berlin's Friedrichstrasse.

The shopping mile between Französischer Strasse and Leipziger Strasse has been closed since the end of August - until the beginning of 2021. The temporary closure will be scientifically evaluated.

It is not yet clear how the measure will change traffic.

Analyzing car traffic with TomTom data is difficult because construction sites in Mitte keep changing traffic flows.

Icon: enlarge

Car-free Friedrichstrasse: Lots of space for cyclists, pedestrians and outdoor restaurants

Photo: Maja Hitij / Getty Images

Tübingen's Lord Mayor Boris Palmer had dared to undertake a similar project.

Also in a model test, he had Mühlstrasse closed to cars in autumn 2019.

The narrow, busy driveway to the old town and university tormented 6,000 cars a day. The axis should become more attractive for cyclists and relieve the old town of car traffic.

Buses and taxis were allowed to continue using Mühlstraße.

According to the city, 4,000 fewer cars drove through the street during the partial closure - and only 3,000 used other entrances to the old town.

So the traffic had effectively decreased.

The TomTom data show that the traffic on the alternative approaches increased only slightly - by a maximum of 15 percent.

The average speed did not change.

The measure therefore had practically no negative consequences - apart from the somewhat longer journey to the old town.

Palmer had the citizens questioned afterwards whether they wanted the lock permanent - but did not get a majority.

"I was hoping we could convince people when they see how it goes," says Palmer.

methodology

Where does the data come from? Up arrow Down arrow

The calculation is based on data from the navigation

device manufacturer TomTom

.

This collects anonymized GPS data and makes it available in aggregated form at the level of the road sections.

Originally, the data comes from both portable and built-in navigation devices and smartphones.

The database comprises more than 600 million data sources worldwide.

According to TomToms, this corresponds to a share of 20 percent of all car traffic.

The vehicles regularly transmit their current location, direction of travel and current speed to TomTom.

If a car was recorded in the TomTom data while driving through a street, one speaks of a so-called hit.

It includes the specific road section, the date, the time as a full hour, the direction of travel and the speed.

How was the change in traffic calculated? Up arrow Down arrow

In order to calculate changes in traffic on a street, it is not enough to simply count the cars in the data which, for example, have driven through this street before and after setting up a cycle path.

The number of hits also depends on the percentage of cars in the total fleet that forward their data to TomTom.

This proportion has increased in recent years because more and more cars have built-in navigation systems.

In order to be able to estimate the change in traffic, we do not work with absolute but with relative numbers.

Example of a pop-up cycle path in Berlin-Kreuzberg: We count the hits on this street and divide this number by the total number of hits in Berlin (within the S-Bahn ring) in the same period.

So we calculate the proportion of traffic on a specific street in relation to the total traffic in the city.

And if the establishment of the pop-up cycle path has changed that ratio, we know that the relative traffic on that street has changed.

And provided that the total traffic has not changed significantly between the two comparison periods, we can also assume that the absolute traffic on this street has changed in a similar way.

When analyzing the average speed, however, we were able to directly compare the values ​​before and after the measure.

Because the speed on a street is primarily influenced by the current traffic situation and does not depend on the number of cars that send data to TomTom.

Which periods were compared with each other? Up arrow Down arrow

For all examples, we compared the traffic in two or more weeks before and after the implementation of the measure.

Ideally, the periods were in the same season - and at least a year apart.

The compared time periods for the examined projects are listed here:

Paris pop-up cycle paths:

2.9.-15.09.2019 vs.

7.9.-20.09.2020

Berlin pop-up cycle paths:

2.9.-15.09.2019 vs.

7.9.-20.09.2020

Munich bike path Kapuzinerstraße:

01.04.-31.07.2012 vs.

01.04.-31.07.2019

Barcelona Superblock Sant Antoni:

01.03.-30.04.2016 vs.

16.12.2019-16.02.2020

Barcelona Superblock Poblenou:

01.03.-30.04.2016 vs.

01.03.-30.04.2018

Berlin bollard in the Samariterkiez:

11.2.-24.03.2019 vs.

04.11.-13.12.2019

Tübingen Mühlstrasse:

18.02.-12.05.2019 vs.

20.09.-14.11.2019

He is annoyed that above all older citizens voted against the project, who hardly use the street themselves.

"You do not vote against the lock out of self-interest, but on principle," believes the Green politician.

What happens to the congested Mühlstraße is unclear.

Where is the traffic turnaround?

There are definitely strong opinionated transport politicians in Germany, not just from the pro-car group.

For example Florian Schmidt, green district councilor of Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg.

"Two thirds of the available space in the city is used by cars," he says.

But when it comes to the choice of means of transport for actual trips, cars in his district only make up about a third.

"We have to turn this situation around."

You can't blame Schmidt for only making speeches.

He is jointly responsible for the majority of the pop-up cycle paths in Berlin, after all the largest such network in Germany, and the bollards in the Samariterkiez.

But these projects, as well as the examples from Tübingen and Munich, show a main problem of transport policy in Germany, the automotive state: Even the smallest interventions in the street area provoke massive resistance - usually fueled by the local Chamber of Commerce, the ADAC and the tabloid press.

No wonder that politicians in this country hardly dare to take on the big hit.

Instead, you try to convince citizens and lobbyists with temporary measures that can easily be reversed.

And then fail like Tübingen's mayor Boris Palmer.

Or have to defend themselves in court, as is currently the case with the pop-up cycle paths in Berlin or the traffic calming in Hamburg-Ottensen.

It is a bitter realization: Anyone looking for well thought-out, resolutely implemented transport transition projects must look abroad, for example in Barcelona and Paris.

There politicians act more courageously.

Not least because they understood that you can't please everyone when space on streets and footpaths is limited.

When in doubt, they opted for pedestrians, cyclists and local public transport - and therefore against cars.

Decisions that even help notorious drivers, as Felix Creutzig reports.

The expert from the Mercator Institute for Global Public Goods studies cycling full-time.

"If cyclists have their own lane, it relieves traffic," he says.

Because a good cycling infrastructure motivates people to change.

If there are fewer cars on the road as a result, the remaining drivers will also benefit.

"Five percent less car traffic means 50 percent less traffic jams on the roads."

Seen in this way, not only the ADFC would have to fight for pop-up cycle paths, but also the ADAC.

Icon: The mirror

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-10-27

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