After all the reporting on the new section of the A100, I finally got the chance to ride it myself and marvel at this masterpiece of engineering practically from the inside. And what can I say? It's genuinely impressive!
The technical challenges overcome here were clearly enormous. Bridges, tunnels, traffic control systems, on-ramps, off-ramps, noise barriers... Just the logistical planning of the construction site alone is beyond what a non-engineer can really grasp. This megaproject is an absolutely impressive testament to human ingenuity.
But after leaving this 3.2-kilometer-long opus magnum of cross-party Berlin city planning behind me, a vaguely familiar question from the past crept up on me. An echo of a question that last hit me while visiting a decommissioned aircraft carrier in the US. What a colossus that was! The product of an unfathomable amount of time, material, energy, and talent. A great many very intelligent people were involved in building it. A machine of destruction like no other.
The question from back then, now echoing between the noise barriers, was: what kind of utopias could be built with all these resources instead?
Paris is showing, in real time right now, what's possible once you decide to leave car-centrism behind.
Research has long confirmed the concept of induced demand, showing that increased road capacity leads to more vehicle traffic. A certain J. J. Leeming already recognized this back in 1969.
Fortunately, Berlin's city planners refuse to be swayed by the opinions of such extremists: just one more lane, bro!
What kind of utopias could be built with all these resources instead?
With that question, I left 3.2 kilometers of depressing pointlessness behind me.
The builders who accomplished this feat have poured Berlin's biggest monument in concrete. Straight through an entire neighborhood.
But that's still not enough for a monument for the ages. Section 17 will finish the job. A monument to ignorance.
Who needs utopias anyway?
Courier El Perro #06 belongs to CROW Courier, which replaces cars with cargo bikes and, in doing so, helps improve quality of life in the city. The sustainable courier service also fosters a cooperative way of working. Info at crowberlin.de