The Wuhlheide has been occupied! Unfortunately we have been evicted, but the fight goes on!

What is the TVO and why we are against it:

The TVO (Tangential Connection East) is a new road connection from Biesdorf in continuation of the Märkische Allee along the outer railroad ring to the Spindlersfelder Bridge in Köpenick. The planned road section is 6.4 km long and runs directly through Wuhlheide. The estimated cost of the project is currently 351 million euros. However, it can be assumed that the costs will continue to rise. This already makes the TVO the second most expensive road construction project in Berlin.

The aim of the new road is to relieve traffic on Köpenicker Strasse and Treskowallee. However, a large number of studies show that new or expanded roads lead to increased traffic volumes on average. Almost 30 years ago, widened roads normally resulted in 10% more traffic in the short term, and as much as 20% in the long term. However, higher increases are not uncommon, especially at peak times, usage can increase by 40% or more¹. All in all, relief roads always lead to more traffic and therefore fail to serve their purpose. In order to sustainably relieve the city of motorized individual traffic, we therefore do not need new roads, but a reliable, free public transport system and a well-developed bicycle infrastructure. The construction of the so-called relief road thus demonstrably not only causes further noise and odor pollution for residents, but also distances us further from meeting our climate targets. Last also by the fact that by the building of the TVO 14.6 hectares of the forest would have to be cleared, of it 4.2 hectares are valuable oak forest in the Wuhlheide. According to the latest data, there will be as much as 15.8 ha of cleared forest. With the planning of the TVO, the Berlin government is nevertheless pushing ahead with an outdated and climate-damaging transport plan from the 1960s. Since 2020, the planning approval procedure has been underway to examine the admissibility of the project. We are resolutely opposed to this! Berlin needs neither the TVO nor the expansion of the A100; instead, we need a social rethink, the containment of motorized individual transport, and thus a stable and reliable local transport infrastructure. Cities and municipalities around the world are beginning to confront the climate crisis. In Berlin, too, a climate emergency has been declared: The Berlin Senate is calling for an ecological traffic turnaround and a reduction in motorized individual transport. But talk alone does not help, action must follow! The construction of the TVO is not compatible with a climate-friendly transport policy. An ecological traffic turnaround does not need new roads, but a comprehensive promotion of the environmental alliance (public transport, pedestrian and bicycle traffic). Sacrificing the already weakened forest to road construction is like pouring oil on the fire of the climate crisis. We need a courageous policy that revises wrong decisions: No more planning from the last century – towards a human- and climate-friendly urban development. We only have this one earth! We only have this one earth!

1) Traffic Congestion and Reliability: Trends and Advanced Strategies for Congestion Mitigation 2005-09-01 FHWA-HOP-05-064 URL : https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/20656 2)  Goodwin, P.B. Empirical evidence on induced traffic. Transportation 23, 35–54 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00166218