Twitter
Facebook
***image1***Kaiserslautern residents living in the center of town and on Betzenberg should be aware of some parking and driving restrictions during the FIFA World Cup 2006 events taking place June 9 through July 9.
Betzenberg residents have free access to their houses at all times. However, there is one exception: on match days (June 12, 17, 20, 23 and 26), four hours before and two hours after a game, there will be a “protocol route” leading from Donnersbergstrasse, Entersweiler Strasse, Barbarossastrasse to Kantstrasse and Fritz-Walter-Strasse or from Kohlenhofstrasse to the circle, Bremer Strasse up to Betzenberg, which only is available for park and ride shuttle buses, city buses, taxis, and FIFA shuttles. Betzenberg residents must use the route Dunkeltälchen, Bremerstrasse and Kantstrasse during this time frame. There will be check points and only residents with parking passes will be admitted. U.S. residents living on Betzenberg are asked to contact the German-American Community Office with their names, full address and license plate numbers to obtain these parking passes.
“We will forward the information to the city’s office of public order, which in turn will mail out these special parking passes,” said Gina-Rietschel-Inman from GACO. “So people who requested a pass should check their German mailboxes.”
U.S. residents living in the center of town should always be able to drive to their houses, even on game days. However, they should give themselves some extra time in case of heavy traffic.
“We will place signs, even in English, saying “Residents Only,” said Jürgen Dressing from the office of public order.
There is one restriction for residents of the “World Cup Mile” on Schneiderstrasse and Eisenbahnstrasse, which will be completely blocked for traffic from June 9 through 28.
“During that time, residents can neither drive to nor park at their houses; they have to find alternate parking possibilities,” said Mr. Dressing. Also, people visiting events in the center or going to the stadium are restricted from parking in the city center and risk being towed.
Ticket holders will have color coded tickets and most Americans should have blue tickets. Directional signs depicting the “WM 2006-logo” and colored bars have been posted and blue ticket holders are required to park at the parking lot “Schweinsdell,” near the “military exit” at Kaiserslautern-Ost on A6. All other ticket holders must park on the P+R lots according to their ticket color.
“Generally, event visitors will be restricted from parking in the center of town,” said Ms. Rietschel-Inman. Coming from the west, visitors are directed to park at the P+R Lot EAW (Bahnheim), located on B40, going from Vogelweh toward center on the left, and shuttle buses will run around the clock. Coming from the east, visitors should park at Sembach Gewerbepark, where buses will start at noon, with the last one leaving Kaiserslautern at 1:20 a.m. Both shuttle services are available to take visitors to the city center. Return tickets for shuttles cost €3 per person, or €7 for groups of five.
“Visitors should not even attempt to get downtown in their own vehicles, parking will not be available there,” said Mr. Dressing. The GACO can be reached at 0631-3633010, or e-mail at info@gaco-kl.de. The office is located in Rathaus Nord, on Lauterstrasse 2 in Kaiserslautern, across from the city hall (where the KMC fish is located in front).
