New construction planned Demolition of old parking garage at Bonn Central Station
Bonn · At Bonn Central Station, the south tunnel leading to the tracks will be closed until mid-June because the parking garage is being razed to the ground. There will be no way through Quantiusstrasse for a week.
Demolition work on the old parking garage on Quantiusstrasse will begin this coming week. As announced by Deutsche Bahn and the owner of the garage, the southern tunnel of the main train station will be closed for several weeks starting Tuesday, May 2, not available to passengers. The northern access to the platforms will remain open, and the elevators can also be reached from there. Samuel Spaltner, managing director of Düsseldorf-based B+B Parkhaus GmbH, which bought the property, expects the construction-related closure to last until mid or late June.
Buses take detours
Clearing and grading the site is the responsibility of the former owner, GBI Holding AG. When asked, the spokesman of that company, Wolfgang Ludwig, explained that the construction site would be set up in the coming week. In the week after next, probably from May 8, there will be a one-week closure of Quantiusstrasse to motorized traffic at Bonn Central Station. This will also affect the buses operated by Stadtwerke Bus und Bahn. According to SWB spokeswoman Silke Elbern, the full closure has been announced as in effect until Sunday, May 14. 17 bus lines from different directions will bypass Quantiusstrasse and instead use the route via Wittelsbacherring, Baumschulallee and Poppelsdorfer Allee through the south underpass to the central bus station.
A crane has to start the demolition from the street, he said. "We are trying to make room as quickly as possible to be able to move the crane onto the property," Ludwig said. In the following weeks until the end of the demolition work, Quantiusstrasse will then only be closed on one side to ensure traffic safety, he said.
New construction to begin in 2024
B+B is planning to build a new parking garage on the site. According to the plans presented to the Mobility Committee in March, around 300 parking spaces for cars and roughly the same number of parking spaces for bicycles should be created there. In the committee, however, the politicians specializing in this area expressed a number of wishes that would make a redesign more than it could handle. These included the possibility of more bicycle parking spaces, a play of colors on the colorful facade of the parking garage, a possible barrier-free accessibility to platform 5 (where the Voreifelbahn S23 to Euskirchen stops) and the installation of photovoltaic systems. The latter would be somewhat difficult according to the current plans, because the parking garage is planned without a roof.
Spaltner said there have already been initial discussions between B+B and the city about the requests from the local politicians. "I can say this much, that we can take some things into consideration. I anticipate that we will find a good solution." He said there are thoughts to design the colorful facade with somewhat more matte pastel colors. And the idea to designate more parking space for bicycles can probably be realized, too, he said. "250 parking spaces for cars will be preserved no matter what," Spaltner said. Construction is scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2024. Construction time: at least one year.
(Orig. text: Philipp Königs / Translation: ck)
