Cyclists in Berlin-Wedding have been waiting for this news for twelve years. That’s how long it took to plan the cycle path on Müllerstrasse. Now it is finally being built, the Mitte district office announced on Thursday. However, this is only the 650 meter long route between Leopoldplatz and Wedding S-Bahn station.
According to the district office, construction work will begin next Tuesday. There are no parking spaces on the shoulders. The space will be used for the bike path in the future. Cars have to be moved. “From 28.6. the district office will remove all remaining vehicles for a fee, ”says a message. For the time of the conversion, Müllerstraße will be reduced to one lane in the respective construction phase.
In the future, delivery vehicles will have to stop in the side streets. The district office announced that the taxi ranks will also be moved there. The cycle path is to be protected with bollards in the future.
The track has a long history. Planning for a bike lane started back in 2010. Since then, a lot has been thought up and discarded again. Most recently, approvable documents from the contracted construction company for keeping the right lane clear were missing.
Mittes City Councilor Almut Neumann (Greens), who took over the post from her party colleague Sabine Weißler in the fall, now wants to advance the expansion of cycle paths in the district. “It’s important to me that everyone in Mitte can ride their bikes safely,” she says. “That’s why I’m working with the Roads and Parks Department to make faster progress in expanding the cycle paths than in the past.”
The busy Müllerstraße is described by cyclists as particularly dangerous. Nevertheless, the short section should remain for the time being, a spokeswoman for the district told the Tagesspiegel in April. “There are currently no plans for the other sections.”
