No-stopping zone · Magdeburg
A Halteverbotszone (temporary no-stopping zone) keeps the space outside your door clear on moving day, so the lorry parks right there and the carrying distance stays short. In Magdeburg the application runs through the road traffic authority, with fixed deadlines. Here you'll find the responsible office, the process, the costs and the question of whether to apply yourself or leave it to the moving firm.
When it's worth it
In the Wilhelmine-era districts of Stadtfeld Ost and West, Buckau and Sudenburg, the street space is tight and parking spaces are usually taken all day. Without a reserved area, the moving lorry may end up parked twenty or thirty metres away — and every metre of carrying distance costs labour time, which is the biggest item in the moving price.
On top of that comes the tram: where tracks and overhead lines run, stopping isn't allowed everywhere anyway, and the remaining space is scarce. A no-stopping zone set up in good time reserves exactly the area outside the entrance. It makes sense at both addresses — at the old flat as much as at the new one.
Office and deadlines
The responsible body is the Straßenverkehrsbehörde (road traffic authority) in the Mobility and Technical Infrastructure department, An der Steinkuhle 6, 39128 Magdeburg. The no-stopping zone is applied for as a special use of public road space, in writing to the roads office (Tiefbauamt). There's a dedicated point of contact there for furniture moves.
Important: other, incorrect office details about the responsibility also circulate online. The right address is An der Steinkuhle 6. Apply to the wrong office and you lose time, and the 14-day deadline gets tight.
The application should be in place at least 14 days before it starts. The signs must be put up at least 72 hours beforehand, roughly 30 metres apart. A practical tip: photograph the signs with the date and time once they're up. That documentation is your proof that the 72-hour deadline was met, in case a vehicle is still standing in the zone on moving day. Only if the signs were up in time can a vehicle blocking the space also be towed away on moving day.
Step by step
The process is straightforward if you keep to the deadlines. First you fix the moving day and count back at least 14 days from there — by then the application should be with the road traffic authority. In the application you give the date, the time, the exact street with house number and the length of zone you need.
After approval, the mobile no-stopping signs are put up — at the latest 72 hours before moving day, roughly 30 metres apart. On moving day itself the area must be clear; if a vehicle is in the way despite signs put up in good time, it can be moved. After the move, the signs are taken down again.
Anyone who'd rather not shoulder this themselves leaves the application, signs and deadlines to a service provider or straight to the appointed moving firm. What makes sense depends on how much lead time you have and how big the move is — more on that below.
What it costs
Through a service provider a one-day zone costs around €128 to €158 at market rates, with each further day about €32. If the moving firm arranges the zone as part of a full service, the surcharge is often in the range of €100 to €150. That covers putting up, taking down and often the registration too.
The actual administrative fee charged by the City of Magdeburg is €16. That's what you pay if you have the zone ordered yourself; on top come the sign hire and putting them up and taking them down. The providers' higher market prices bundle all these items into a single flat rate.
Yourself or via the firm
If you file the application with the road traffic authority yourself and hire the signs, you save the service provider's surcharge. In return you have to keep an eye on the deadlines, get the signs, put them up in good time and take them down again. For a move within Magdeburg with enough lead time, that's perfectly doable.
Many partner firms handle the no-stopping zone as an add-on service — from registration to taking the signs down. It costs a little more, but it takes the deadlines and the organising off your hands. For a big move or with little time, that's usually the more relaxed option. In the request you can state whether the zone should be quoted as well.
Green sticker
Unlike smaller towns, Magdeburg really does have an Umweltzone (low-emission zone). It has existed since 1 September 2011, and since 1 January 2013 only vehicles with a green particulate sticker may drive there — cars and lorries alike. For the move that means: the moving lorry needs a green sticker if it's to drive into the inner-city zone.
The zone encloses the city centre and the districts next to it; roughly, it's bounded in the north by Albert-Vater-Straße and Walther-Rathenau-Straße, in the east by Schleinufer and Steubenallee, in the south by Erich-Weinert-Straße and Am Fuchsberg, and in the west by the Europa-, West- and Südring. The Magdeburger Ring itself stays open to all traffic. It's precisely in this core area that the narrow period-building districts lie, where a no-stopping zone is especially worthwhile — Stadtfeld Ost, for instance, is one of them.
In practice this is rarely a problem: the vehicles of professional moving firms almost always meet the green-sticker standard. The point becomes relevant mainly if you're tackling the move yourself with an older, privately hired diesel van — then it's worth checking the sticker on the windscreen before heading into the city centre. For the applied-for no-stopping zone, the low-emission zone applies independently: the zone keeps the space clear, the sticker governs entry.
Residents' parking zones
In parts of the city centre there are designated residents' parking zones. Anyone registered there can apply for a Bewohnerparkausweis (residents' parking permit); according to the City of Magdeburg it costs €30.70 and is valid for one year, and a transfer — for instance when moving within the zone — costs €10.20. The permit is valid only for the particular zone it's issued for.
For moving day the crucial point is: a residents' parking permit guarantees no fixed space. In a residents' parking zone, both residents with a permit and outsiders with a ticket or mobile parking may stand — so the kerbside here, too, is usually full. Your own residents' permit is therefore no help to the moving lorry; it secures no continuous clear area for the vehicle and its tail lift.
This is exactly the gap the no-stopping zone closes: it reserves a defined stretch exclusively for the move, regardless of whether the street is a residents' parking zone or not. Where residents' parking merely manages the space, the no-stopping zone keeps it completely clear for a day.
Move, delivery or building site
A mobile no-stopping zone isn't set up only for moves. The basis is always an order from the road traffic authority for a special use of the road space; depending on the purpose, the duration and scope differ.
For a home move it stays the simplest and cheapest case: the short no-stopping zone with a €16 administrative fee plus sign costs. The longer container and building-site variants are mentioned here only to draw the line, so it's clear which kind of zone you really need for a move.
So it works on moving day
Length of the zone. A single lorry needs about 15 running metres of clear space so it can park and use the tail lift. For two vehicles or a furniture hoist, correspondingly more. You state this length in the application; it determines how many metres of road space are closed off.
Two addresses. For a move within Magdeburg, a zone at both addresses is worth it — at the old flat as much as at the new one. Otherwise the lorry stands freely at one and in the parking chaos at the other, and the time saved is gone. Both zones can be applied for in one process.
Signs in time and done right. The signs must be up at least 72 hours before moving day, roughly 30 metres apart. Only then is the ban enforceable. Put them up too late and you risk a vehicle standing legally on the space on moving day that can't be towed.
Document it. Photograph the signs with the date. If a vehicle is in the way on moving day despite the zone, that's your proof that the ban applied in time — the precondition for the vehicle to be moved.
How the no-stopping zone fits into the overall cost is on the page about moving costs in Magdeburg. Whether you organise the zone yourself or the firm offers it as well, you state in the request.
Frequently asked
The responsible office is the Straßenverkehrsbehörde (road traffic authority) in the Mobility and Technical Infrastructure department, An der Steinkuhle 6, 39128 Magdeburg. The application is filed in writing as a special use of the road. Other office details circulating online are outdated or wrong.
The application should reach the authority at least 14 days before the special use begins. The signs, once put up, must additionally be in place at least 72 hours before moving day for the ban to be enforceable.
Through a service provider, a one-day zone costs around €128 to €158 at market rates, with each further day about €32. The City of Magdeburg itself charges an administrative fee of €16 for the order; the higher provider prices additionally include sign hire and putting them up and taking them down.
Read on: Moving costs in Magdeburg · Moving helpers in Magdeburg · How it works.