Intro: After more than 30 years of continuous operation, Berlin's main traffic artery, the A111 / A100, is about to undergo a complete overhaul. A major road project that inevitably raises many questions. An integrated traffic and construction concept will be developed that encompasses all relevant aspects, including a set of recommendations for action. The implementation strategy will be based on these results.
Modernisation of Berlin’s motorway network: Integrated traffic and construction concept
PTV Transport Consult’s experts help to answer important questions, such as: How many construction phases need to be created? How must traffic be managed during the construction period? What will be the impact on traffic? How can road users be adequately informed about the measures and how can traffic be controlled and guided during the various construction phases?
Project description
The A111 motorway located northwest of Berlin connects Berliner Ring (A10), the orbital motorway around the city, to the A100 urban expressway, carrying up to 180,000 vehicles a day. The ageing road system – from the Berlin/Brandenburg border to the Charlottenburg motorway junction and from the A100 to the Westend bridge – had to be completely overhauled. The project team ‘Construction’ examined the structural aspects and the ‘Traffic’ team, headed by PTV Transport Consult, developed a traffic management concept to be implemented during the construction phase.
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Challenge: Ensuring smooth traffic flow during construction
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The urgently needed modernisation of the A111 and A100 motorways will have a significant impact on Berlin’s transport infrastructure and traffic flow. Considerable negative effects on the traffic flow are to be expected, as bridges, tunnels and troughs will have to be modernised or even completely renewed.
In addition, there are only a few alternative routes available, which means that traffic must be managed intelligently during the construction phase. So the huge challenge in terms of concept development was to coordinate the required construction measures, while ensuring smooth traffic flow.
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Modal shift strategies
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In order to minimise the negative effects on traffic in adjacent districts and to ensure accessibility, the ‘Traffic’ team created a traffic management concept to be implemented during the construction phase. To ensure a holistic approach the project team developed transport strategies taking into account modal and temporal shifts in addition to conventional detours carrying traffic around the work area. A special focus was on traffic information and traffic control.
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Result: Integrated traffic and construction concept
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The overall modernisation process was carried out as part of an iterative process between the two project teams responsible for construction and traffic, focussing on the interdependencies between:
- the stages of construction
- the time schedule for the construction measures
- and the resulting traffic conditions
The common optimisation objective was to minimise the impact on the adjacent infrastructure, taking into account financial, traffic- and time-related as well as environmental aspects. Both teams were supported by other specialists (e.g. construction logistics and tunnel safety experts).
The results were integrated into the overall traffic and construction concept.
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Tunnel safety report
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A detailed tunnel safety report was prepared as part of a separate project. This contract was also awarded to PTV Transport Consult.