Since 1 January, a speed limit of 30 km/h has been in force on the section between the motorway at the Botanical Garden and the Bonner Talweg. The aim is to reduce nitrogen dioxide pollution. The limits set by the EU have been exceeded on the Reuterstrasse for years. The city administration now hopes to improve air quality by slowing down traffic and thus avert the threat of driving bans for certain types of vehicles. For this reason, the speed limit is also stipulated in the current Clean Air Plan for Bonn as part of the "Reuterstraße relief package".

The city and the State Office for Environmental Protection have not yet produced any results. The reason is simple: it is still too early. The measured values for nitrogen dioxide, which are collected at Hartsteinstraße, are only available for the third quarter of 2019. And the overall results of the speed measurements are still to come, as Marc Hoffmann from the Bonn press office explains. "The measurement at Reuterstrasse would have to be interrupted to obtain the data. Therefore, we can only transmit the requested data in the course of next week."

However, the mobile speed camera of the public order office has already been on site several times, last Wednesday a total of seven and a half hours. The balance for this day: Of the 3622 vehicles measured, 311 were moving too fast. "The speed check in this area of Reuterstraße will take place - as it has for several years now - at the height of the Till-Eulenspiegel School, because the school is a facility worthy of protection, and its surroundings are considered a danger zone," the city authorities said. The aim is to increase the safety of the children on their way to school. The city also points out that road areas are to be regarded as danger spots "if the speed limit was imposed for reasons of noise protection or air pollution control planning". Meanwhile, the Bonn police do not consider the section of Reuterstraße to be an accident or danger zone and therefore do not carry out controls there.

Therese Barths can see the measuring point well from her apartment. The senior citizen is leaning on the windowsill on Tuesday morning, the mobile speed camera has just left. "Most people stick to the speed limit, but there are always a few black sheep," she says. She has lived in the house for more than 50 years, and still knows Reuterstraße when it was not four lanes but two. "Traffic has of course increased more and more." And now, for the first time in decades, it has become quieter. "I can even open the window in front to let some air in. It was much too loud before." Sometimes the water splashed from the roadway up to the house wall. During rush hour the cars are still jammed. But what she noticed was that there are significantly fewer trucks. That is also the goal of the city. Parts of the long-distance traffic are to be diverted over a large area via the north and south bridges.

Car drivers are also taking a more positive view of 30 km/h than one might think. Eight out of ten respondents said they liked it. The arguments are practical: during the day, it is usually not possible to drive much faster anyway. They say it is more relaxed on the road. The suffering of the residents is understandable. For some, however, it could certainly go a little faster, perhaps at 40 km/h. But there is also the view that 50 km/h should be driven on a main artery.

The city wants to maintain the controls. However, the city does not want a speed camera trailer like the one on the Museum Mile. "One use would mean the elimination of three or four parking spaces. Due to the already existing parking pressure there, the city council is refraining from such a measure.

(Original text: Nicolas Ottersbach; Translation: Mareike Graepel)