8655 spectators attended the U21 international match between Germany and Poland on Essen’s Hafenstraße. After the match, there was criticism of the city’s traffic concept.
After the 3:1 victory of the German U21 national team against Poland, there was a lot of criticism of the Essen venue. The reason: the traffic chaos.
The Bild newspaper wrote: “In some cases, it took fans over two hours to cover the last three kilometers to the stadium. Many only arrived at or during the second half, hundreds of fans even turned around in frustration and missed the game completely. Pure frustration. No traffic management at Bundesliga matches is this disorganized, this amateurish – simply amateurish, Essen!”
Forecasting asked the city the day after the U21 international match at the stadium on Hafenstrasse in Essen. This is how Thorsten Steinmann, the authorized signatory responsible for stadium operations at Grundstücksverwaltung Stadt Essen (GVE), responded:
Thorsten Steinmann about…
… the journey to the match: “The journey to the home match of the German U21 national team against Poland coincided exactly with the rush hour. Regardless of the “chaotic” situation described here compared to home games of Rot-Weiss Essen, it is much more important to note that the A42 and A52 highways as well as the federal highway 224 and the arterial roads (especially Bottroper Straße) were very full overall. Actually at this time 16.30 to 18 o’clock usual. Kick-off was at 6 pm.
… the number of spectators: “Up until the weekend, the organizer DFB and we (GVE) as the stadium operator were expecting 3,000 to a maximum of 5,000 spectators. It was not until the weekend and the day before that many more tickets were requested, so that the published figure of around 8,655 spectators was reached.”
… the large and long traffic jams: “The journey to the game was largely made individually by car. That’s why shuttle buses and shorter bus intervals were not used, as is the case at RWE home matches. There was hardly any use of public transport at this match. The regular buses were also stuck in rush-hour traffic
We are currently working with the city of Essen to optimize minor areas (especially signage) after a year of experience with the amended concept for “soccer”. This concept has proven itself with the current 18,000 visitors at every RWE home game.
Thorsten Steinmann
With this in mind, the police and the stadium security service (the same security service as at Rot-Weiss Essen) tried to improve the congestion situation by temporarily closing off Hafenstraße, which was planned for crowds of 5,000 or more. However, this proved to be counterproductive and the closure was immediately lifted. The road was therefore closed for a maximum of five minutes at around 5 pm. As there were very few pedestrians on Hafenstraße, contrary to RWE’s home games, there were no dangerous situations between cars and pedestrians. From our point of view, the arrival and filling of the stadium’s own parking spaces was therefore problem-free, even exceptionally quick. The fact that there may not have been enough parking spaces for all visitors from outside the region may have led to people searching for parking spaces around the stadium. As there was no fan segregation at the game (as at RWE home games), this was possible without obstructions due to closures and the cars were able to use the public parking spaces in the vicinity of the stadium.
… previous international matches in the Essen stadium: “We didn’t have these travel problems at the numerous other DFB international matches in the stadium on Hafenstraße. The main problem yesterday was the time collision of the journey with the usual rush hour traffic, complicated by numerous roadworks in the city.
… the article in the Bild newspaper: “In our view, the sharpness of the Bild article is not factually justified. We do not want to comment on any speculation about rivalries between different soccer clubs or cities in the article.
If the article is aimed at the fact that other stadiums have more direct connections to highways, more direct connections to underground and suburban trains or more parking spaces in total, this is of course correct. However, practice and the approval situation at the Hafenstraße stadium show that our situation is not ideal, but it is good and manageable. Problem-free arrivals and departures at stadium concerts and the GFL Bowl 2023 (American football) show this in the same way as the weekly successful arrivals and departures at RWE home matches.”
… the traffic concept around the stadium: “The operational traffic concept for the stadium on Hafenstrasse works well. We are currently working with the city of Essen to optimize minor areas (especially signage) after a year of experience with the amended concept for “soccer”. This concept has proven itself with the current 18,000 visitors at every RWE home game. “