That street (Friedrichstraße) is a major north-south thoroughfare because it connects to the bridge in the north. See https://www.google.com/maps/dir/52.5010589

That street (Friedrichstraße) is a major north-south thoroughfare because it connects to the bridge in the north. See https://www.google.com/maps/dir/52.5010589,13.3914406/Friedrichstraße,+Berlin/52.5373091,13.3744063/@52.508615,13.393717,13.21z/data=!4m10!4m9!1m0!1m5!1m1!1s0x47a851dac43e5b55:0xed2cdc371d188cec!2m2!1d13.3894122!2d52.5133866!1m0!3e0 https://www.google.com/maps/dir/52.5010589,13.3914406/Friedr... It actually isn't as bad as the photo makes it seem: that seems to be taken with a telephoto lens, flattening a kilometre's worth of traffic into a single layer.