Berlin’s Administrative Court Rejects Neukölln Residents’ Emergency Application to Halt Traffic Reduction Measures
The Berlin-Brandenburg Administrative Court has ruled in a preliminary injunction that the measures implemented by the Neukölln district office to reduce through traffic in the Reuterkiez neighborhood will remain in effect. The decision confirms an earlier ruling by the Administrative Court, which found that the measures were part of a comprehensive plan to reduce traffic and lower the number of accidents.
In November 2023, the district office introduced one-way street regulations, a no-through-road ban, a through-road block and the installation of bollards and a diagonal barrier (known as a modal filter) in the Reuterkiez neighborhood as part of a broader concept to transform the area and reduce traffic and accidents.
Two residents of the neighborhood and a non-resident road user filed an emergency application against the majority of these measures. The Administrative Court, however, found that the district office had correctly considered the entire set of measures in its assessment and that all the traffic regulations were part of a comprehensive plan. As a result, the court held that all traffic regulations, including those not challenged by the applicants, needed to be taken into account in determining the required level of danger.
The court also found that the data used by the Administrative Court, including traffic counts, the percentage of through traffic, accident statistics and the share of bicycle traffic, were not open to criticism. The court noted that a specific danger level did not need to be established for every street or street section where traffic regulations were implemented.
The judges also believed that the district office, within its discretion, could determine the best way to address the established danger by implementing the measures it had chosen. The applicants had failed to provide evidence of any unsatisfactory measures, the court said and there was no evidence of any errors of discretion. The measures had been explicitly introduced to reduce traffic and the interests of the applicants as residents and road users had been adequately taken into account. The decision is final and cannot be appealed.