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Administrative court stops political traffic restrictions

18. November 2022
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From Probandt
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Reading time: ca. 1 Minute

Once again, the Berlin Administrative Court has overturned politically motivated traffic restrictions. A prominent example is the closure of Friedrichstraße in Berlin-Mitte to motorized traffic in order to establish an exclusive bicycle lane there. Something comparable occurred with the Senate administration's attempt to redesignate one lane of Clayallee as a bus lane.

Road traffic authorities can only restrict or prohibit the use of certain stretches of road for reasons of traffic safety and order. Traffic control orders require a concrete danger (§ 45 StVO). This can be used to justify the preferential treatment of certain types of traffic in individual cases, such as a "bicycle lane" in which delivery traffic remains permissible. However, the complete exclusion of motorized traffic in Friedrichstraße cannot be justified in this way. This was decided by the Administrative Court of Berlin (24.10.2022 - 11 L 398/22).

The Administrative Court had already previously revoked the special bus lane in Clayallee between Argentinische Allee and Riemeisterstraße. The local conditions did not justify a special danger situation. The delays for the buses between various stops were a maximum of 26 seconds. This is not sufficient for a bus lane. In addition, special lanes should generally only be provided if at least 20 buses of the regular service operate per hour of the heaviest traffic load (marginal no. 12 to sign 245 Verwaltungsvorschrift StVO). In Clayallee, however, the Senate Administration has allowed a minimum frequency of only 9 buses per hour to be sufficient without giving reasons for this. This is not sufficient (Berlin Administrative Court, 31.08.2022 - 11 L 345/22).

For questions on this topic, please contact attorney Dr. Haaß.

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