(Source:  via Irish Times, NY Times, Guardian, UK)

On July 18th, Germany shut down its busiest Autobahn for celebrating life – appropriately titled “Still-Life A40”.  The “Still Life” festival on Sunday in the Ruhr region in western Germany offered some surreal images and video footage of the autobahn without cars and overrun with pedestrians.

A 37-mile stretch of Germany’s famous highway system, between Dortmund and Duisburg, was closed to motor vehicles for the street festival and replaced by a line of 20,000 tables, reports The Guardian. Around three million people attended the event.

The ambitious aim of “Still Life” was to change negative attitudes in Germany towards the Ruhr, a region known for the last six decades as the capital of smokestacks, steel mills, and soot.

Some five million people live in this urban sprawl of cities, where Duisburg runs into Essen into Bochum and on to Dortmund. Yesterday more than two million locals – every second resident – flooded the A40 expressway for this highlight of the 2010 European Capital of Culture in Essen and its Ruhr sister cities.

For one day the Ruhr was connected up with 20,000 tables and as many mini-parties from bowling clubs alongside school groups, scout troops and theatre troupes. A friendly festival on the otherwise hostile, anonymous Autobahn.

For kilometre after kilometre, the party kept on rolling. Strangers salsa danced in the sun near Duisburg and 100 newly wed brides in their gleaming white wedding dresses handed out red roses near Essen.

Television pictures from the air showed crowds milling around on a road where cars usually race along at speeds of 160 kph (100 mph) or more.

One lane of the autobahn, which crosses North Rhine-Westphalia state, was kept free for skaters and cyclists – and more than one million revellers brought bicycles, including the state premier, Hannelore Kraft.

There are no general speed limits on Germany’s autobahns. Cars often speed up to 200km per hour (125mph) or more. In dense or dangerous areas, drivers are often required to slow down to 120 km per hour (75mph).

Transportgooru Musings:  I wonder what is the total fuel savings from this shut down?  Does anyone have any idea of potential savings resulting from this event (fuel savings, CO2 Emissions reduction, etc).  Oh well, beyond the economic/monetary benefits, it is always wonderful to see the community getting a chance to explore their own infrastructure by foot and bicycle.  I dream of a day our Washington,DC’s infamous beltway shuts down once a year for a festivity like this, bringing together communities for a get together that celebrates the diversity of the region.  It would be nothing but a MASSIVE  hit and I’m sure my fellow American citizens would definitely celebrate this.  After all, the Americans know how to throw a party, better than anyone on earth.

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• Jim: Coffeed Up: Still Life Festival In Germany Germans party on the autobahn – eTurboNews.com (eturbonews.com)
• German autobahn closed for mass 60km picnic (newslite.tv)
• No autos on the autobahn: Germans party on highway (ctv.ca)
• Germans hold 60 km-long party on motorway (reuters.com)