There are these poles blocking the street randomly for through traffic. Sometimes they aren't there sometimes they are. There is no sign explaining anything.

honestly the confusion is fair because the signage is basically nonexistent. the whole thing is part of the "kiez block" program that's been rolling out in different spots across kreuzberg and neukölln. if you're trying to avoid the headache entirely, just take wilhelmstraße south from hallesches tor, it's one block east and way more predictable

Yeah, it's been like that since 2022. The poles are supposed to block through traffic from 4 PM to 8 PM on weekdays to keep people from shortcutting past Südstern, but they've had technical issues with the mechanism jamming. If you need to get through reliably, take Gneisenaustraße instead.

It's basically a filtered permeability setup - allows bikes and pedestrians through but stops cars. The inconsistency is partly due to manual operation by city workers who have to lower and raise them from a control box on the sidewalk, and they don't always stick to the schedule. If you're driving through regularly, the best bet is to just plan around using Zossenerstraße or sticking to the main roads like Mehringdamm.

the poles are part of the "verkehrsversuch" they started to make the area less of a rat run during peak hours. the mechanism breaks down a lot tbh, i've seen them stuck up for days and then suddenly down on a sunday when they're not even supposed to be active. if u need to go that way during the afternoon, just turn onto jüdenstraße instead, it's a smaller parallel street that stays open and drops u back on the same route past the bollards

been living on pettenkofer for two years now and the real trick is that the poles are actually tied to the magnetfuss detector in the pavement by the kiosk near south end. when a bike with a metal frame rolls over it the system thinks it's a car and lowers them for a few minutes. that's why you'll see them randomly down at 10am on a tuesday. take boppstraße instead if you're driving, it's two blocks east and the lights are better timed