[David9694]

No, suburban Brit, whatever it is that someone has done that you don’t like,  it really isn’t anything like the Berlin Wall. Nor is it like the Stasi, nor is the person you think is behind it all Herr anything.  And no, it’s not like Belsen or Dachau either. 

Ah, the potency of WW2, its legacy and imagery live on, not least through the type of jumped-up and stupid person who thinks it is clever and impactful to cite them. 

A recent “Berlin Wall” example that we had back in February was Manningtree Station.  The Secretary of State has accepted that a decision to allow this wall to stay in place was flawed, but 3 months on, there’s no sign of anything changing. 

Drivers of course like using this sort of imagery and reference as well. I’ll put up a few pictures of the actual Berlin Wall in the replies – not the familiar Brandenburg Gate, but some of the suburbs where ordinary lives are lived. Don’t forget that the Wall went all around Berlin, e.g. almost to Potsdam in the west, spanning fields, forest, rivers, railways and lakes. 

You had the enclosing main wall that west Berliners faced, behind this the so-called Death Strip cleared of buildings that could provide escapers cover, clear for motorised patrols, watchtowers, all with the armed patrols of the border police, and then an inner wall. 

Here’s a map.  I don’t think it’s searchable. https://www.berlin.de/mauer/en/route/the-wall-inside-the-city/

Coming up as I say are two suburban streets photographed in the 1980s from the western side of the wall.  Plus some others I found online for which I don’t have locations. 

Then let’s come back to the UK, and what’s this, drivers? Why it’s a little residential road, partially demolished and severed in two, another road cut intwo with an enormous bridge over it for pedestrians to pick their way along. 

Topic

[David9694]

Bouchésraße. I think I’ve

Bouchésraße. I think I’ve found the building on the left and the doorway at the right hand edge. 

[hawkinspeter]

David9694 wrote:

As you poke around on the map and zoom in, there are these little blue/white circles dotted about. Water pumps, it turns out. Kein Trinkwasser. 

Those look great – why can’t we have them along our roads here?

[David9694]

This is an aerial shot of the

This is an aerial shot of the Steinstucken exclave – enclave from the GDR’s point of view. It seems extraordinary now how municipal boundaries (tedious to 99.9% of people) were adopted militarily and as a way to settle the biggest conflict ever to affect Europe. 

These exclaves raised sovereignty issues that led to repeated conflicts. Traffic to and from Steinstücken, for instance, the only exclave with permanent residents, was often hindered as it crossed GDR territory, resulting in frequent confrontations between GDR authorities, residents, representatives of the Berlin Senate, and the American allies.

https://www.berlin.de/mauer/en/history/exchanges-of-territory/

[David9694]

There’s no mainland Britain

There’s no mainland Britain experience of this, suburban Brits. 

[David9694]

And on the tourist map 

And on the tourist map 

[David9694]

STUBENRAUCHSTRASSE 1985 

STUBENRAUCHSTRASSE 1985 

[David9694]

From the tourist map 

From the tourist map 

[David9694]

The Berlin suburbs 1985. We

The Berlin suburbs 1985. We’re looking along a road claimed by the East

[chrisonabike]

The IPPR making the case (yet

The IPPR making the case (yet again) that more road building does not represent good value for money.

(That was late 2024 – at the current rate of “pragmatism in the face of a changed world” / fear of Reform I’m expecting Labour to be a) thanking President Donald Trump for bringing us the wisdom of fewer restrictions on driving, less (environmental, health and safety) regulation and (via pal) self-driving cars and b) declaring themselves to be the party of the motorist (again) in the run up to next election…)

[chrisonabike]

On the impact of new roads

On the impact of new roads (which can effectively sever local routes and communities even as they aim to connect people to places further away): this in the “no shit sherlock” category: an evaluation of a new “connecting” motorway built in Glasgow in 2011.

Good that someone did some detailed study but probably not news:

– it didn’t reduce road casualties and seems to have increased driving

– it did help to connect some local residents with amenities and people in other places but over time there appear to be negative mental health affects for those nearer to it.

[chrisonabike]

David9694 wrote:

The same throughway cutting off a road – the town centre is just over there, pedestrians: here, we’ve built you this nice overbridge – hope you’re fit and don’t get vertigo!

NotJustBikes introduced me to the phrase “concrete trenches in the sky”.  Some may be nicer than others (and not all of them are accessible to all pedestrians, never mind those on wheels…) but I think that’s apt.

They can be as socially unsafe / unpleasant as underpasses.  Here’s a find on an overpass on a bike ride (people smoking crack)…

[David9694]

The same throughway cutting

The same throughway cutting off a road – the town centre is just over there, pedestrians: here, we’ve built you this nice overbridge – hope you’re fit and don’t get vertigo!

[David9694]

UK : This used to be, as the

UK : This used to be, as the name suggests, a crescent of houses cleaved in two by a throughway.

[David9694]

Wales (picture) – no sale 

Wales (picture) – no sale 

https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/uk-news/fence-like-berlin-wall-blocked-26566143?int_source=mantis_rec&int_medium=web&int_campaign=more_like_this

Corby https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/25/were-surrounded-by-warehouses-it-looks-like-the-berlin-wall/

Manningtree station: https://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/24201682.manningtree-stations-berlin-wall-set-removed/

actually does look a bit like it

https://www.devonlive.com/news/devon-news/devons-berlin-wall-mk-ii-10142402

 

[Author]

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