Bergmannkiez - Court: Speed limit 10 km/h for cyclists remains
The speed limit of 10 km/h for cyclists in Berlin-Kreuzberg's Bergmannstraße remains. A cyclist, who had objected to this, was unsuccessful in court.
The Berlin-Brandenburg Higher Administrative Court rejected his application for leave to appeal against a corresponding ruling of the lower court: With this decision made in March 2023 by the Administrative Court, the judgment is legally binding, as a court spokeswoman announced (OVG 1 N 34/23).
The Administrative Court argued that the structural transformation of the street into a central gathering place in the neighborhood had led to a "complex mixture of pedestrian, cycling, delivery, and through traffic." The limitation to 10 kilometers per hour particularly protects crossing pedestrians.
In the judgment of the Higher Administrative Court, it is stated that the lower court correctly assumed a danger to pedestrians and cyclists due to the restructuring of the road section. This justifies a reduction of the maximum speed from 20 km/h to 10 km/h on the contested, approximately 250-meter long road section between Zossener Straße and Nostitzstraße.
As part of a project for traffic calming, the Bergmannstraße was restructured. In the section in question, there is a cycle lane with one lane in each direction, as well as - separated from it - a one-way street for motorized traffic, on which a speed limit of 10 km/h applies.
The cyclist, despite objecting in Berlin's Administrative Court, could not overturn the traffic rule setting a 10 km/h speed limit for bikes in Bergmannstraße. The Judge Speaker at the Administrative Court, in their judgments, agreed with the lower court's decision, citing increased traffic complexity and potential danger to pedestrians and cyclists due to the road restructuring. The higher traffic volume, including delivery vans and motorized vehicles, necessitated this limitation on bike speed within the 250-meter stretch of Bergmannstraße between Zossener Straße and Nostitzstraße.
