Pop-up bike path

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pop-up cycle path on the Kottbusser Damm in Berlin

A pop-up cycle path (also known as the Corona cycle path ) is a short-term cycle path that is intended to quickly provide more space and safety in cycle traffic in an acute danger or crisis situation or if the general road traffic conditions suddenly change.

Pop-up bike lanes were laid out in several cities during the COVID-19 pandemic and are usually intended as temporary cycling infrastructure for the time during the causative event. The cycle paths arranged during the pandemic are intended to help cyclists keep their distance in order to minimize the risk of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Other reasons for pop-up cycle paths during the pandemic are to relieve the pressure on local public transport, the use of which is associated with an increased risk of infection, as well as promoting physical activity and thus strengthening the immune system.

The cycle paths, mostly marked with yellow lines and construction site beacons, were usually set up by reallocating the right-hand lane or a previous parking lane to a cycle lane . In Berlin, the cost of one kilometer of pop-up cycle path is around 9500 euros.

development

First pop-up cycle path in Berlin on Halleschen Ufer

The term “pop-up bike lane” originated in North America, where, for example, the American city of New York had started some attempts with short-term cycling infrastructure. The COVID-19 pandemic in Colombia led to the fact that in the local capital Bogotá, more space for cycling was created on a total of over a hundred kilometers on main roads. The measure was reported internationally. In Germany, pop-up cycle paths were initially set up in the Berlin district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg . The first pop-up cycle path in Berlin was created on March 25, 2020 on Halleschen Ufer . Others followed on Tempelhofer Ufer, in Skalitzer and Gitschiner Straße, in Lichtenberger and Petersburger Straße and on Kottbusser Damm . The Mitte district later announced that it would set up pop-up cycle paths on Schöneberger Ufer between Potsdamer Brücke and Flottwellstraße and on Müllerstraße between Seestraße and Wedding U-Bahn station . The longest pop-up cycle path in Berlin to date was laid out with a length of 3.5 kilometers on Kantstrasse in the Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf district . The pop-up cycle paths in Berlin were set up temporarily until May 31, 2020, with the prospect of being converted into a permanent cycle infrastructure in accordance with the Berlin Mobility Act . The district of Pankow announced that it intends to set up a pop-up cycle path on Danziger Straße between Prenzlauer Allee and Danziger Straße 142 from May 5th and the installation of another pop-up cycle path on Schönhauser Alle between Schwedter Straße and Torstrasse . The original deadline for the Berlin pop-up cycle paths until the end of May was extended to the end of 2020 before the end of the month.

In May 2020, the city ​​of Leipzig announced that it would set up temporary bicycle paths on Jahnallee at the level of the Zeppelin Bridge to defuse a hotspot of accidents . Stuttgart also began to set up pop-up cycle paths after public protests. In Munich , the first pop-up cycle path was set up on Elisenstrasse in June, and pop-up cycle paths were announced on four other streets with a time limit until October.

In Nuremberg , following protests and petitions, a first one-kilometer pop-up cycle path is being planned on Rothenburger Strasse between Bertha-von-Suttner-Strasse and Wredestrasse. It is intended to serve as the forerunner of a bicycle expressway in the direction of Zirndorf and Oberasbach until 2021 .

In Vienna , in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic in Austria , a pop-up cycle path was opened on Praterstrasse on May 7th . On May 15, a second pop-up cycle path was opened in Wagramer Straße in the Donaustadt district and on June 1, a third pop-up cycle path was opened from Obere Donaustraße over Roßauer Brücke, Türkenstraße and the entire length of Hörlgasse as well as the Set up from Straße des 8. Mai to Universitätsstraße in the Alsergrund district . On June 9th, a fourth pop-up cycle path was opened on Lasallestraße between Venediger Au and Vorgartenstraße , which is the continuation of the first pop-up cycle path on Praterstraße all the way to Reichsbrücke .

Pop-up cycle paths have also been set up in the cities of Budapest , Calgary , Milan , Mexico City , Minneapolis , Vancouver and Paris . Similar to the pop-up cycle paths, there are similar projects and requirements for pedestrians and buses.

Conception

The conception of pop-up cycle paths is characterized by rapid implementation and reduced planning processes and is implemented in Berlin on the basis of standard plans . Due to the Berlin Mobility Act, however, there was already preliminary planning in Berlin for the establishment of bicycle traffic facilities on main roads. Pop-up cycle paths on main roads are implemented in Berlin as joint projects of the respective district as the building contractor and by order of the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection . Temporary pop-up cycle paths, which are later to be converted into permanent infrastructure, have the advantage over directly implemented construction plans that the traffic situation can first be tested in practice and any problems that may arise can be improved.

The district office of Berlin Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg recommends a concept, according to the pop-up cycle paths from the identification of the affected areas, through the hearing of the authorities to be involved, the arrangement of the measures and the temporary signage up to the completion within ten days and in eleven steps can be set up. The following four basic principles are applied in the design:

  • Traffic separation: physical separation of pedestrian, bicycle and car traffic that goes beyond markings and that does not have to be crossed by car traffic when parking
  • Forgiving infrastructure: Infrastructure that minimizes the risk of injury in the event of misconduct, for example through safety clearances between the roadway to the curb or to beacons or the use of separation elements made of yielding materials
  • Predictability: easily understandable and less complex traffic routing
  • Network approach: establishment of a transport network to relieve individual road sections

In the case of streets with two lanes in both directions, the right lane including a buffer zone from the flowing motorized traffic is completely separated as a cycle lane and existing signage for stationary traffic is covered. Parking of motor vehicles is then no longer permitted and driving is possible for both bicycle traffic and motorized traffic on one lane each. On streets with two lanes and a parking lane in both directions, the right-hand lane for cyclists, including a buffer zone, is separated from stationary and flowing motorized traffic and the parking lane is retained. Motorized traffic can then drive on one lane in each direction. In this case, however, vehicles have to cross the cycle path when parking and leaving, which contradicts the above-mentioned principle of traffic separation. For streets with three lanes in each direction, where parking is permitted on the right-hand lane, the right-hand lane is separated from the middle lane as a cycle lane with a buffer zone and the middle lane is designated as a parking lane, so that motorized traffic can flow and motorized traffic at rest and the bicycle traffic are each given a lane. At intersections with traffic lights, there are possible measures to protect straight-ahead or right-turning bicycle traffic from right-turning motorized traffic. This includes the creation of a temporarily protected intersection with temporary curb extensions or, alternatively, traffic light phases with separate, exclusive green phases for pedestrians and cyclists. If this is not possible, we recommend switching the green phase for bicycle traffic before the green phase for motorized traffic.

Legal basis

In Germany, a road traffic authority order is required to set up cycle paths . The acceleration requirement on which the construction of pop-up cycle paths is based is derived in Germany from ordinances to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and the minimum distance regulations mentioned therein. In Berlin, this is the ordinance on the measures required to contain the spread of the new type of coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 in Berlin (SARS-CoV-2 containment measures ordinance - SARS-CoV-2-Eind MaßnV). The legal basis for the implementation is Section 45 (9) sentence 4 of the Road Traffic Act . According to Section 44 (1) sentence 1 of the Road Traffic Regulations, the relevant responsibility for this lies with the road traffic authorities. In Berlin, this is the Senate Department for Environment, Transport and Climate Protection according to No. 11, Paragraph 3 of the catalog of competencies for the General Safety and Order Act . The respective district is responsible for the implementation as the building contractor.

The planned transfer of the temporary pop-up cycle paths into a permanent cycle traffic infrastructure is based on the Berlin Mobility Act . For this, however, a new road traffic authority order including a hearing procedure must be issued.

Review by the scientific services of the German Bundestag

After the FDP had questioned the legality of the pop-up cycle paths, the Scientific Services of the German Bundestag prepared a 13-page report (Expertise WD 7 - 3000 - 074/20), which they presented on June 29, 2020. Accordingly, the procedure for setting up the pop-up cycle paths, as it was done in Berlin, is not objectionable in terms of the road traffic regulations, since, according to Paragraph 45, restrictions and prohibitions for flowing traffic can be ordered to create a cycle lane in a dangerous situation . This is the case with increasing bicycle traffic with insufficient capacities and an associated increased risk of accidents. The distance regulations ordered by the federal states to contain the Covid-19 pandemic can also play a role as a criterion. Furthermore, according to the report, there is no obligation to justify the arrangement of the pop-up cycle paths and a hearing of citizens is not necessary. A continuation of the established pop-up cycle paths beyond the expiry of the deadline at the end of 2020 is possible due to the principle of visibility .

Right of assembly

Citizens can register for an open-air gathering on a lane to demonstrate for the establishment of a pop-up cycle path. The assembly authority must secure the area with traffic cones that are at least 50 centimeters high and no more than 5.00 meters apart. Since traffic safety is a sovereign task, this measure cannot be transferred to the applicant. For the duration of the meeting, a de facto pop-up bike path will be created.

Effects on motor vehicle traffic

According to evaluations by the Senate Department for the Environment, Transport and Climate Protection , the traffic on some streets on which pop-up cycle paths had been set up changed only insignificantly.

According to an evaluation of the Berlin pop-up cycle paths using GPS signals from the navigation device manufacturer TomTom for the Berliner Morgenpost , the cycle paths lead, at least for a short time, to less car traffic on the respective routes, which was concluded from a decrease in GPS measurements of around 50 percent. In addition, the pop-up cycle paths initially had an impact on the speed of motor vehicle traffic. Depending on the road, getting ahead by car is sometimes faster and sometimes slower than before. On most routes, travel times have increased and the average speed has decreased. For example, the average travel time on the 3.6 kilometer long Kantstrasse has increased from around eleven minutes to around twelve minutes. On the Schöneberger Ufer, the approximately 800 meters next to the pop-up cycle path would take an average of four minutes instead of the previous 2.45 minutes. Car traffic would move faster on Danziger Strasse than before.

Political Debate in Germany

The establishment of pop-up bike paths in Berlin by the red-red-green Senate was praised by cycling associations such as the ADFC and the associations around the bicycle referendum initiative and received mostly positive in social media. The Berlin-Brandenburg regional association of the ADAC criticized the measure and said the Senate would take advantage of an emergency situation to pursue particular interests. The CDU and FDP also accused the Senate of instrumentalizing the pandemic for the turnaround in traffic. In the new traffic concept of the Berlin CDU, which it presented in June 2020, the party describes the construction of the cycle paths as "pop-up actionism". The AfD spoke of a “left-green car hater policy” and referred to a decrease in the number of cyclists compared to the previous year. The ADFC, on the other hand, stated that the number of trips covered had decreased overall in the Corona crisis and evaluations by the traffic information center and local public transport showed "that this is far more drastic with car traffic, buses and trains than with cycling." MP Frank Scholtysek called the pop-up cycle paths illegal and filed a lawsuit against the Senate administration. In his opinion, the cycle paths would “prevent motorists from using roads due to political arbitrariness”.

Within the population, the approval ratings for pop-up cycle paths vary between cyclists and motorists. As part of a short study by the research group "The traffic turnaround as a socio-ecological real EXPERIment" at the Technical University of Berlin , in which 16,000 people from Berlin were surveyed, almost 100 percent of the cyclists were in favor of the pop-up cycle paths and around 80 Percent of drivers against it.

Since other cities in Germany initially did not want to set up temporary bike paths, Deutsche Umwelthilfe sent applications to 204 city administrations, whereupon the cities of Cologne, Frankfurt am Main and Dresden, among others, wanted to grapple with the option. In several cities, including Stuttgart, cycling associations organized campaigns calling for the establishment of pop-up cycle paths.

After a cyclist coming from a pop-up cycle path was killed by a truck driver turning right at the intersection of Petersburger Strasse and Mühsamstrasse in June 2020, the head of accident research at insurer Siegfried Brockmann criticized the fact that pop-up cycle paths alone would not offer a safe solution for the intersection areas as the main danger points and would therefore pretend security. In order to achieve sufficient safety, the intersections would have to be rebuilt and the traffic lights changed. Brockmann also criticized the short-term establishment of the cycle paths without prior measurement of the respective traffic flows. The Senate Administration replied that the police had been involved in every establishment of a pop-up cycle path "in order to take into account the safety aspects of the respective location together with the road traffic authority". The situation at intersections and junctions would only change as a result of the provisional cycle lanes, as the visual relationships would be significantly better in each case.

Web links

Commons : pop-up bike paths  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Audio

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Senate gives Berlin districts tips for pop-up cycle paths. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Crisis-proof cycling: The Corona pop-up cycle paths in Berlin. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  3. ↑ admin: Pop-up cycle paths help physically distance coronaviruses in Germany Weltnachrichten | DE24 News. Accessed April 29, 2020 (German).
  4. ^ Magistrale in Friedrichshain: Frankfurter Allee is also becoming a pop-up cycle path. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .
  5. ↑ a b Anja Krüger: New bike paths due to the corona crisis: Impulse from Bogotá . In: The daily newspaper: taz . May 2, 2020, ISSN  0931-9085 ( taz.de [accessed May 4, 2020]).
  6. ↑ The man behind the pop-up bike paths. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Pop-up cycle path set up on Schöneberger Ufer. April 23, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Pop-up bike paths for Mitte. April 17, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  9. ↑ New pop-up cycle path in Charlottenburg | Video | ARD media library. Accessed April 30, 2020 .
  10. ↑ a b Pop-up traffic turnaround and Corona cycle path, or: Nothing lasts longer than a temporary solution. April 21, 2020, accessed on April 30, 2020 (German).
  11. ↑ A temporary cycle lane will be set up on Danziger Straße from May 5, 2020. April 30, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  12. ↑ The deadline for pop-up cycle paths will be extended to the end of the year. Retrieved May 29, 2020 .
  13. ↑ Temporary cycle path: Leipzig defuses the accident black spot. May 22, 2020, accessed May 23, 2020 .
  14. ↑ muenchen.de: The first pop-up cycle path is ready. Retrieved June 28, 2020 .
  15. ↑ SPD and CSU for the first pop-up cycle path in Nuremberg. June 7, 2020, accessed June 7, 2020 .
  16. ↑ Cycle path on Praterstraße only out of town. Die Presse , May 7, 2020, accessed on May 16, 2020 .
  17. ↑ Hebein surprises the Viennese with a pop-up cycle path. Der Standard , May 7, 2020, accessed May 16, 2020 .
  18. ↑ Second pop-up cycle path in Vienna from Saturday on Wagramer Straße. The standard, accessed on May 16, 2020 .
  19. ↑ Third pop-up cycle path for Vienna. ORF, June 1, 2020, accessed on June 7, 2020 .
  20. ↑ Vienna gets the fourth pop-up cycle path on heute.at, from June 8, 2020, accessed on June 8, 2020
  21. ↑ Andrea Reidl: Is the pandemic-induced traffic turnaround coming now? In: The time . April 24, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  22. ↑ Nicolas Šustr: Corona traces also required for buses (new Germany). Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  23. ^ A b Mobility in times of #Corona: New “Pop-Up Cycle Paths” in #Berlin. In: Youtube. Difu, April 29, 2020, accessed May 2, 2020 .
  24. ↑ https://www.mobycon.nl/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/6796_Kreuzberg_Handbuch-V4.pdf
  25. ↑ A virus makes transport policy? In: Verfassungsblog. Retrieved May 11, 2020 .
  26. ↑ Christian Latz and Patrick Goldstein: Berlin: Are pop-up cycle paths permitted? Legality should be clarified. May 28, 2020, accessed on July 1, 2020 (German).
  27. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Are pop-up bike paths legal in Berlin? Accessed July 1, 2020 (German).
  28. ^ VG Stuttgart, decision of June 8, 2020, Az. 1 K 2792/20
  29. ↑ Joachim Fahrun and Christian Latz: How the pop-up cycle paths in Berlin affect car traffic. June 23, 2020, accessed on June 28, 2020 (German).
  30. ↑ https://twitter.com/julianmieth/status/1275135190172663810/photo/1. Retrieved June 28, 2020 .
  31. ↑ The man behind the pop-up bike paths. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  32. ↑ Claudius Prößer: New bike infrastructure against Corona: By far the healthiest. In: taz . April 6, 2020, accessed April 30, 2020 .
  33. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: CDU wants magnetic levitation train, river taxis and oases of wellbeing. Retrieved June 28, 2020 (German).
  34. ↑ New bikes for the season. Retrieved April 29, 2020 .
  35. ↑ Berliner Zeitung: Pop-up cycle paths: AfD politician sued Senate administration. Retrieved June 28, 2020 (German).
  36. ↑ How pop-up bike lanes continue to divide cars and cyclists. Retrieved June 28, 2020 .
  37. ↑ Christian Latz and Beatrix Fricke: Berlin: After a fatal bicycle accident with a cement mixer: an expert criticizes pop-up cycle paths. June 4, 2020, accessed on June 6, 2020 (German).