Offenbach: Traffic calming started at Wilhelmsplatz

Three month test

The traffic calming of the western and eastern side streets on Wilhelmsplatz is valid on the market days Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. – until November 18. Surveys accompany the traffic test. May drive through nor who lives on the square or delivers goods – the city issues permits for this. Even by bike You are allowed to pass – additional bicycle brackets have been installed on previous car parking spaces. More comprehensive information is available at offenbach.de/verkehrsberuhigung- wilhelmsplatz. fab

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The closure was preceded by long discussions at the political level and in urban society: Some – for example the coalition of the CDU, Greens, FDP and Free Voters – want to give the square more quality of stay by banning through traffic and allow more distance in times of Corona . The others fear that the blocking will harm business people and marketers – this fear is also shared by the SPD, which runs the side streets of the square of market times very much would like to lock.

Petra Heckelmann from the Bürgel gardening company of the same name, who heads the market association with 55 members, is also critical. Heckelmann is sitting on the edge of Wilhelmsplatz and can hardly contain himself with anger. She says that the redevelopment of the square ten years ago reduced the number of market participants from 80 to 60. Something similar will happen again when no one can drive up in the car to load heavy purchases. Friedrich Pusch, who runs a wine shop and wine bar on the square, is also really angry on Tuesday. He says that he was missing a third of the usual customers on the first morning of the lockdown. His prognosis for the square is bleak: “The market feeders will leave and that’s it.”

Heinrich Maus from the Otzberger Kartoffelhof Jäger is also critical: He does not know how the many restaurateurs from the city and district will get their sacks of potatoes from him at the market in the future. On Tuesday, he observed two city police officers who turned away cars at the entrance to the western side street and handed the inmates information sheets. City police officer Dagmar See emphasizes that at the beginning of the blockade one is accommodating – that is, residents and marketers can drive in without a special permit. But no one else is allowed in – not even anyone who wants to fetch potato sacks or wine boxes.

But on Tuesday many also expressed their joy that you can now stroll between the market stalls and the cafés on the edge of the square, ride bikes and let the children play – at least during market times. “It’s much quieter and less smelly than usual,” says Ursula Franz, who lives right on the square above a brasserie. “As far as I’m concerned,” she says, “it could always be like this here.”