Wolgaster and Wolgasterinnen live in a traffic bottleneck - the northern entrance to the island of Usedom. You are used to a lot. Due to construction work, they are currently not even able to pick up their child.
Wolgast (dpa/mv) - The current traffic obstructions caused by the construction work on the Peene bascule bridge are demanding a lot from the residents of Wolgast. "We had colleagues who didn't manage to pick up their child from daycare," said Eric Witt, head of public order in Wolgast, the German Press Agency. "The educators took it home." The parents did not come to daycare.
The deputy mayor, Ralf Fischer, had to send his child across the bridge on foot because of the traffic jam "so that it can get home at all, because you can't get there by car". He was Wolgaster, but had never experienced anything like it before.
Since the beginning of September, traffic on the federal highway 111 to and from the island of Usedom has only flowed in one lane with construction traffic lights. Reason are repairs to the bridge in Wolgast. In some cases, traffic was backed up in parts of the city in the north that were normally spared, Witt said. The rest of the days are better, apart from the morning and afternoon rush hours. It will be interesting to see how the situation develops over the weekends. The holiday season goes on, even if the holidays are already over.
Fischer said Wolgast was a bottleneck anyway. "We've been living with this traffic load for years, decades, regardless of this restriction." However, the half-side blocking is the icing on the cake. "You can also see the frustration among the citizens on the street." He's seen them yell and honk at each other.
In the past, the locals could have adjusted to the already large volume of traffic, for example from holidaymakers. Now, however, their secret paths in the city are also partially clogged. That makes her inventive. Some drive the wrong way around on one-way streets or turn wrong. Also, more people abandoned their cars altogether and walked or rode their bikes. Despite everything, Fischer and Witt understand the work. To their knowledge, the bridge was so damaged that it now had to be repaired, Witt said. When the planned completely new bypass will be ready, however, is in the stars.
The current restrictions are to remain in place until the beginning of November, with the exception of the October holidays. According to the State Office for Road Construction, two-lane traffic is made possible during peak tourist times. The repairs are to be continued in the coming year.
The B111 is the only road access to Germany's second largest island from the north. From the south, drivers can roll over the B110 near Anklam and the Zecherin bridge.
