Coming soon: Cross Berlin from east to west on a new cycle expressway

By 2030, Berliners will have a major east-west bicycle route. Photo: AFP

The city of Berlin is planning a new high-speed bicycle path between the districts of Honow in the east and Spandau in the west, passing through the city centre. It is expected to be completed by 2030, with an estimated end-to-end travel time of two-and-a-half hours.

This expressway will actually connect two routes, an "eastern" one from Honow to the Tiergarten station and a "western" one from the station to Spandau.

Construction work is scheduled to begin in 2024 and to be completed six years later. However, some small sections of the route could become operational sooner.

As part of the project, the number of traffic lanes between Tiergarten station and Brandenburg Gate will have to be reduced from six to four. In addition, some parking spaces will be removed to make way for this new bicycle expressway.

The city estimates that it will enable thousands of motorists to switch to cycling on a daily basis, if only to get to work. Nearly 1,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions could then be saved each year.

The goal is also to be able to travel this route almost as fast by bicycle as by car.Beyond this east-west route, the German capital expects to have a total of 100 kilometers of high-speed bicycle routes by 2030.

This initiative comes in addition to others aimed at promoting cycling in the German city.

For example, a Berlin collective is campaigning for the entire city centre to be closed to cars within a few years and to become a space reserved for pedestrians, public transport, bicycles and scooters.

This in some way echoes the growing use of so-called "low-emissions zones", which are increasingly being seen in major cities around the world. – AFP