The controversial model project for the car-free Friedrichstrasse in Berlin will cost at least 213,000 euros this year. This is the result of a list by the transport and environmental administration for the budget deliberations in the House of Representatives, which the “Berliner Morgenpost” first reported on Sunday.
According to the paper, which is also available to the German Press Agency, “design concept and support for the technical implementation of the superstructure” cost 62,832 euros. 56,300 euros are planned for street furniture such as seating, and 36,000 euros for the maintenance of green spaces.
The accompanying traffic investigation is said to cost 22,365.61 euros. 18,469.75 euros are earmarked for electricity generation and lighting of the so-called showcases on the street, a kind of glass showcases, and 17,136 euros for street cleaning. “Additional expenditure for the project in the current financial year is possible, but cannot currently be estimated in a targeted manner,” explains the transport administration in the paper.
This is to be expected, above all, because the readjustment of the model project “Flaniermeile Friedrichstraße” announced by Transport and Environment Senator Bettina Jarasch (Greens) at the end of April has not yet been priced into the budget. Jarasch explained at the time that the previous concept did not work like this: now the cycle path in the middle of the street should be eliminated and pedestrians should be given priority everywhere.
Jarasch also wants a further redesign of the 500-meter-long section in question based on the model of an Italian piazza. The neighboring Charlottenstraße is to become a bicycle street.
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As part of the model test, the section between Französischer Straße and Leipziger Straße, where the luxury department store Galeries Lafayette is located, has been taboo for cars since August 2020. Since then, the project has been the subject of much controversy in the city.
