Archive: The Capital City of Berlin - Documentation

At the beginning of the development measure a plan of priorities for the construction of roads was developed. This was done in order to allow for dependable scheduling and financial planning. It was possible to classify each individual step according to its urgency. Road construction in the inner-city can thus be split into two general parts. Building new roads for the areas around the Parliament was given the highest priority. In a second step, the existing road network was improved, especially on both sides of Unter den Linden avenue. This sequential process was adhered to for the most part during the entire period of development.

Berlin's point of view was that government-related vehicular traffic should be attuned to the city and dovetail with historical road axes and flows of traffic. The new traffic system is thus designed to accommodate government and city functions in an equal fashion.

By looking at the avenues which run along the Federal Chancellery and the parliamentary buildings, this becomes evident. Ingeborg-Drewitz-Allee and Otto-von-Bismarck-Allee to the north and Joachim-Karnatz-Allee and Paul-Löbe-Allee to the south connect the Parliamentary Quarter in an east-west direction. The Kronprinzenbrücke was rebuilt and the Moltkebrücke and the Brücke Alt-Moabit were overhauled in order to meet the area's new require-ments. The Scheidemannstraße separates the new Government Quarter from the Tiergarten (Berlin's central public park) while the Heinrich-von-Gagern-Straße traverses the quarter. This network of roads made it possible to integrate the "Band des Bundes" into the city's existing circulation system in a nearly seamless manner.

Development in figures (date: 31 December 2006)

total financing development measures (road and power line construction)	300 million euros
thereof spent	circa 70 percent
total road construction projects	140
thereof completed or under construction	100
total length	24,27 miles
total area	0,21 square miles
spent amount (= 66 percent of total financing road constructions)	138 million euros
construction of pipelines/electric mains, water, gas, electricity, telecommunication, district heating total length so far	24,27 miles
total financing construction of bridges and banks	74 million euros
bridge construction project	14
thereof completed	12
bank construction projects	10
thereof spent	71 percent
instauration and new building of plazas, open space and parks	37
(compensatory measures for felling trees)	6
thereof completed	27
in planning	10