Berlin – Eight years? Yes, you read that right: eight years! That is how long the major construction project that drivers in Berlin are facing will take as things stand. The ailing motorway triangle Funkturm, one of the most important junctions in the Berlin road network, is being renovated and rebuilt. It won’t be long before the preparations will enter an important stage: the planning approval process will begin this year, at the end of which the approval is due, the planning company Deges announced on Thursday. Although it will be some time before construction begins, it is already becoming apparent that the mega project in the shadow of the radio tower will be more expensive than expected. “The prices for building materials are exploding right now,” said Deges division manager Andreas Irngartinger. “We are concerned that the previous forecast of almost 300 million euros will no longer be feasible.”
Here a ramp, there a bridge and another carriageway: For more than five decades, something has been added and supplemented again and again where the Avus meets the city ring. No wonder that the hair of foreign drivers at the Dreieck radio tower stand on end when they have to navigate tight bends and then find themselves on super-short threading tracks.
Simulation: Deges
This is how the junction where the Avus (A115) meets the city ring (A100) should look. Today the Avus runs along the Avus Motel (left). In future it will run on the other side. The closure of the service area and the abolition of the large parking lot that is located there today will make way for green spaces and construction projects.
“Super short”: That is the formulation of Peter Grüschow, who heads the Dreieck radio tower project at Deges. The fact that traffic safety is not in good order is considered a sticking point, said the civil engineer on Thursday. The other is the “performance deficits”: There are simply too many up and down exits, which hinders the flow of traffic – which is not insignificant because it is one of the most heavily used parts of the German motorway network.
“When the triangle was planned in the 1960s, it was assumed that there would be 20,000 vehicles per day,” said Irngartinger. The Charlottenburg junction is currently crossed by an average of 230,000 vehicles every day, including 12,000 trucks. According to the federal forecast, there should be 250,000 in 2030. Neither in the present nor in the predictions for the future is noticeable, or not very much, of the hoped-for turnaround in mobility, which is intended to push the car back out of the cities.
Deges: The motorway triangle will also be needed after the mobility transition
But if this kind of turnaround is also the goal of transport policy in Berlin: why is a piece of the autobahn built from scratch? “Even if traffic will be 30 percent less than forecast in nine years, around 175,000 vehicles are still expected here every year,” says Andreas Irngartinger. The Autobahn triangle is essential for city traffic and the functioning of Berlin, he said. “In the future, too, groceries will not come to supermarkets by S-Bahn.”
Traffic has already had to be restricted on five bridges, which sometimes forces trucks to take detours. Only in one of the 25 bridges is there no need for action in the short or medium term, the Deges continues. The 29 other structures, including noise barriers and retaining walls, are getting on in years. “In its current form, the triangle cannot be rehabilitated,” said Irngartinger.
On Thursday the Deges people explained how to proceed. The first preparatory construction work will begin in 2023 – at the earliest, as the division manager explained. The planners expect road and bridge construction to start in 2024 – that is also the earliest possible time.
The construction work is expected to last until 2032. It’s true, said Irngartinger: “It’s incredibly long. But it is absolutely appropriate to the complexity. ”The major project is divided into eight major construction phases, which in turn require several hundred different construction stages. All traffic connections should be preserved, Tempo 50 or 60 remain possible. So that the builders still have space to work, the A100, for example, will be relocated in this area and temporary bridges will be built over the circular railway. For this, the S-Bahn traffic is interrupted.
Residents criticize that there are no entrances and exits
Keyword mobility transition: The project will not lead to the junction being able to pass more cars through in the future, according to Irngartinger. “There is no increase in capacity – perhaps indirectly, but not directly. A needs-based expansion is not planned. ”In return, the residents get more noise protection – including those on Dernburgstrasse, who have not had any before. Because the Avus will be relocated and in future will pass the city ring on the south side of the motel, space will also be free for construction projects and green spaces. In the simulations, lawn extends in front of the Avus grandstand.
Simulation: Deges
The simulation shows the planned connection point Messedamm. The Avus will no longer run in front of the grandstand, from which spectators once watched the races on the A115, but moved south.
The driveway on Messedamm will soon be closed. Until the opening of the new junction to the west of it, traffic will concentrate on the Kaiserdamm entrance and exit. A one-way system and new traffic lights should reduce the load, said Peter Grüschow. Nevertheless, there is still criticism from residents, they fear evasive and sneaking traffic if the entrances and exits are closed. But nothing will change in this planning, it said. “What we are currently finding is a bad solution in terms of traffic,” says the project manager.
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