A40 Street Party

Today as part of the Ruhr2010 celebrations the A40 (previously B1) is closed from Dortmund to Duisburg (60 kms) for a street party



More details here http://www.ruhrnachrichten.de/
Steve

Blimey, you wouldn't get awy with that here would you. Looks fun to me.

Imagine that on the M25. There's that place Ausfahrt again. Never did find it!

having used the A40 a few times in the last five years i stopped using it because it was the most used and congested autobahn in germany, no wonder the germans nicknamed it ruhrschlieichweg (rhur crawling way) its official name is ruhrscnellweg (ruhr fast way) a contridiction in terms if you have been on it yes teabag its the german version of our carpark the M25, but it must have been an amazing sight 3 million people partying on the autobahn glad i came back on the E30 now i know why that was so busy only just made the ferry.

paul.

oldtimer wrote:

having used the A40 a few times in the last five years i stopped using it because it was the most used and congested autobahn in germany, no wonder the germans nicknamed it ruhrschlieichweg (rhur crawling way) its official name is ruhrscnellweg (ruhr fast way) a contridiction in terms if you have been on it yes teabag its the german version of our carpark the M25, but it must have been an amazing sight 3 million people partying on the autobahn glad i came back on the E30 now i know why that was so busy only just made the ferry.

paul.

Hi Paul
Have been living back here since Dec 2001 and agree with the A40 so always use the A42 just a few kms north or the A2 bit further north all going east to west, glad you got ferry OK
Cheers
Steve

We tried that here in Calgary as well...although of course it wasn't anything approaching an autobahn!...

We have a major east-west artery known as Memorial Drive (goes along the river that cuts through the middle of the city and is a "memorial" to soldiers of WWI with large trees planted along the park land/pathways between the road and the river).

One of our city council members, who is known to be a bit 'flakey' and 'green', decided it would be a wonderful idea to close down this major artery to vehicle traffic in order to celebrate the river and 'non-vehicular transportation'.

It created a major furor since Memorial Drive is, as I said, a major east-west corridor, linking the far reaches of the eastern suburbs to the far reaches of the western suburbs and a major swack of inner city along the way. It was supposed to be a one-off thing but here we are again this summer and the alderman (although she is a woman) pushed to do it again. It turns out it was a major inconvenience for most of the city but on the other hand, it was only one afternoon....

These sorts of events are, I think, interesting. It certainly speaks to how people enjoy congregating and being in an environment (on an autobahn) that they normally only would be on while encased in a vehicle hurtling along at 100+ clicks an hour. If done correctly, I think it's kinda a neat idea.

So am i right in thinking they actually did close the road then Stephen.

Have been living back here since Dec 2001 and agree with the A40 so always use the A42 just a few kms north or the A2 bit further north all going east to west, glad you got ferry OK
Cheers
Steve[/quote]

thanks steve, hate the ferry always get seasick but hull to rotterdam saves me a fair few miles,going through euro tunnel only 35 mins but 284 miles to folkestone and then 365miles calais to lubbecke as against 90 miles to hull and then 212miles to lubbecke ,hope to get back over early october if the weather not to bad,will give the A42 a go next time.

cheers . paul.

Is this connected with the news story I heard on CBC Radio this morning (Zulu minus 7 hours) about some people in Duisbburg being killed in a street party?

recce83 wrote:

Is this connected with the news story I heard on CBC Radio this morning (Zulu minus 7 hours) about some people in Duisbburg being killed in a street party?

That was the Love Parade
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,708347,00.html

Heard on the news this morning that its now 18 dead and over 100 injured.

yes I caught that on the News yesterday, shocking.

Heard of that here too....dreadful.

The Love Parade techno music party has been happening for a few years, started in Berlin I believe. Apparently a few folks tried scaling some fence to get in or something and fell, others kept climbing over and a panic ensued.

One hears about this sort of thing and is immediately reminded just how elemental human beings, for all our sophistication and culture and civilization, really are. In such situations some sort of mass hysteria takes over and all rational thought goes out the window and we are reduced to panicked mammals running amok.

Dreadful....

Such events can occur for years with nothing horrible happening but once it does...well, I'm willing to bet the 'authorities' will take a second look at such an event and decide to not allow it, or severely restrict it in some way for future events thereby carving the very heart of such events out of it. Sad....

yes indeed, elf 'n' safety will be all over it like a rash