Waldemarstraße, Legien- and Leuschnerdamm on the border of the Kreuzberg and Mitte districts, with their cobblestone streets, are being used by north-south transit traffic at excessive speeds. After reunification, the city grew together with a scar that KFU traffic uses as a shortcut.
Through traffic flows from
– Oranienplatz via Leuschnerdamm towards Bethaniendamm, – Engeldamm onto Legiendamm to Oranienplatz
– Michaelkirchplatz onto Legiendamm
– Sebastian- and Luckauerstrasse via Waldemarstrasse onto Leuschnerdamm or further along Waldemarstrasse.
Drivers don’t care about the speed limit signs of 10, 20, and 30. This generates noise, danger, and particulate matter for us residents! Crashes happen frequently at the intersections. For example, the bollards in front of the Wirtshaus Henne and at Oranienplatz are regularly knocked down due to excessive speeding. Reporting this to the police via their online portal doesn’t do much. Even when they do carry out speed checks, traffic is back to speeding after just three days.
We are residents with windows facing cobblestone streets, with children and school routes; we have three daycare centers in the neighborhood and the social project for people with disabilities.
As residents, we want safety, peace and quiet, quality of life, and climate adaptation!
2026: As residents, we don’t want to wait any longer for the approved diagonal filters to be implemented on the Kreuzberg side as part of a Kiezblock on both sides of the Waldemar Bridge. With the current capacity of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district office, the current plan for 2026 will take another 10 years.
Berlin’s Senate, previously led by the CDU, does not want any Kiezblocks and is giving the districts too little money for bollards and staff to install them.
2025: Residents of Waldemarstrasse are fighting back with a petition.
Now, ahead of the election for the Berlin House of Representatives on September 20, 2026, it would be a good time to ask the candidates about their support for “Kiezblocks” (low-traffic neighborhoods). We are also borrowing devices that measure noise, speed, and the number of vehicles—such as Telraam—to document our problem! Our first device at Leuschnerdamm 19 has shown since April 23, 2026, that almost half of the vehicles are speeding on the cobblestones.
We founded a residents’ initiative “Around the Waldebrücke Speeders Out!” on Fri, March 6, 2026, at 7 PM. If you’re interested in joining, please contact: kontakt[at]tomalbrechtart[dot]de,
Tom Albrecht, 0306154749
We demand
– Contraflow one-way streets
– Speed bumps or alternatively
– Alternating perpendicular and parallel parking, and the
– Closure of Michael-Kirchstrasse behind St. Michael’s Church!
For this, we need action from the district offices of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Mitte for Leuschnerdamm and Legiendamm, from Waldemarstrasse to Annenstrasse!
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