For those who might have been stationed or traveled around Frankfurt in the 1960/1970/1980s.....you probably remember the street that ran along the north end of the Rhine River....east-west.....from the A44 Autobahn exit to the B43 'Alterbrucke' (the old bridge).....noted locally as Mainkal or Untermainkal Strasse.
It was the four-lane that carried a fair amount of traffic along the river, and was right next to city park along the river.....opposite the Sachsenhausen 'pub-district'.
Well....the Frankfurt City Council decided that for the entire summer of 2019.....that street will be shut down for an experiment.
Still being discussed....if pub stalls or food trailers will be allowed, or if's simply a 'quiet' street with only walkers or bicyclists allowed. The neighborhood groups, along with the Green Party/SPD Party group.....are hyped for a quiet atmosphere. Others around the city want this as a party-district for one long summer.
I sat and paused over this. In 1978/1979....I lived in the shadow of Frankfurt and remember this street-park along the river. In the summer period....a lot of people hung out there on weekends.
The curious thing I see with this 'experiment'.....you had easily 10,000 cars a day that traveled this 2-km street area. So by closing off this 'path'.....where are the 10,000 cars going to travel? Yeah....you just created a street which had limited traffic before....but will have triple or quadruple traffic compared to now. You can anticipate the anger and hostility brewing just a month into the 'experiment'.
And the idea of beer-wagons or little temp pubs being temporarily set up? I can guarantee you that the locals on that street will absolutely forbid that idea.
I won't label it a failed 'experiment', but I doubt that they ever repeat this again.
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