In an exclusive interview with the regional Berliner Morgenpost, CDU fraction leader Dirk Stettner said at least 24 main roads would see their speed limits lifted from 30km to 50km per hour. "That will be implemented this year," he said.
The speed limit changes will affect multiple major thoroughfares in districts around the city, including Hauptstraße in Schöneberg, Elsenstraße in Treptow, Friedrichstraße and Postdamer Straße in Mitte, Hermannstraße in Neukölln, Tempelhofer Damm in Tempelhof and Joachimsthaler Straße in Charlottenburg.
It will give drivers the chance to really step down on their accelerators in these streets for the first time since the 30km per hour speed limit was introduced seven years ago by the former Greens-led Transport Ministry. At the time, the SPD, Left Party and Green Party coalition had decided to lower the speed limit to improve air quality and road safety.
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According to Stettner, the 30km per hour speed limit will still be in place during evening hours.
"We want to ensure that Berliners can sleep well and will therefore go to 30 km per hour at night and 50 km per hour during the day," he explained.
The 30km per hour limit will also be kept in place on side streets and on ten of the 34 main streets where the red-red-green coalition originally lowered the limit in 2018.
This will apply to roads "where the health-threatening limit values for noise and nitrogen oxides are exceeded and where road safety requires it, such as in front of daycare centres, schools, senior citizens' or childcare facilities", Stettner said.
The move is one of a number of changes in transport policy that have been introduced by the capital's first conservative-led government in decades.
Since entering office, CDU Transport Senator Manja Schreiner has pushed through a number of car-friendly policies, halting the construction of cycle lanes that would result in fewer parking spaces for drivers and reopening Friedrichstraße to motor traffic.
Environmental activists from BUND Berlin and Umwelthilfe and politicians from the Green Party have slammed the plans to once again raise the speed limit.
Speaking to Morgenpost, BUND Berlin emphasised that the lower speed limit was not just about air quality, but also about fighting "noise and accidents in the growing city", which have continued to increase in recent years.
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However, Stettner brushed off the criticism, arguing that the policy was in line with Germany's traffic laws.
"According to road traffic regulations, 50 km per hour is the standard speed in city centres - period," he said.
"The Greens' transport senator had her own reasons for introducing a lower limit," he added. "These reasons no longer apply."
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