2024-02-19 08:22:42
Across Europe, major cities are taking steps to remove cars from city centres. In Berlin, however, the authorities are reversing course, increasing the speed limit from 30 to 50 km/h and will build a new city highway.
This is the result of political struggles between environmentalists and conservatives. The new conservative mayor Kai Wegner (CDU) spent his entire campaign with the idea of giving back space to the car. Thus, Berlin takes an opposite position to what is happening in Paris, Barcelona and Brussels. The new mayor even said that he doesn’t want “bike lanes to slow down traffic because time is also money.”
So the speed limit has been increased from 30 to 50 km/h, which is not a problem as the authorities believe that pollution targets have been met due to the decline in the number of diesel cars, lower emissions from new petrol cars and the uptake of electric cars .
Berlin City Hall also has a firm stance on parking: it must remain simple and accessible. Thus, the capital of Germany will not follow Paris, where they recently tripled the prices for parking SUVs. Berlin residents pay an average of 12 euros per year, and the city builds parking lots where possible. He even decided to build a new section of highway.