Effective 1st January 2008, Cologne’s downtown area
will be declared an “environmental zone”. This means that only vehicles
sporting one of the stickers for Emissions Groups 2 to 4 will be allowed to
enter the downtown area (www.stadt-koeln.de).
The Koelnmesse exhibition centre
will remain accessible for all types of vehicles, even if they do not bear one
of the aforementioned stickers.
The attached graphic shows all of the routes
for driving to and from the exhibition centre.
However, only vehicles that bear the
pertinent sticker will be allowed to drive outside of these routes (to get to
downtown Cologne,
for example).
A transitional arrangement will remain in effect
until 31st March 2008, during which time violations of the environmental zone
regulations will not be punished.
Trade fair visitors from Germany and abroad who wish to come to Cologne in an appropriately
equipped vehicle will receive a sticker that allows them to drive into the
environmental zone after applying at
www.umwelt-plakette.de