The street begins in the north of Freiburg at Siegesdenkmal, which is located on the outskirts of the historic city center. From the central street crossing, at Bertoldsbrunnen, Bertoldstraße branches off westwards and Salzstraße eastwards. On the southern outskirts of the historical city center Kaiser-Joseph-Straße passes through the Martinstor gate and continues on to Kaiserbrücke, which crosses the Dreisam. Like many other streets in downtown Freiburg, Kaiser-Joseph-Straße has a Bächle. Most of the buildings between Siegesdenkmal and Martinstor were completely destroyed in World War II during an air raid on 27 November 1944. Because of the tram, which opened in 1901, the people in charge had to build arcades into the buildings on either side of the street in order to create more space for pedestrian and other traffic, so the tram could continue passing through the Kaiser-Joseph-Straße. Traffic was regulated by traffic lights located at Bertoldsbrunnen. In November 1972, the street became one of the first traffic-calmed areas for pedestrians in Germany. Only tramline 2 (Zähringen-Günstertal), tramline 3 in the south (Vauban-Haid), as well as tramline 5 (Rieselfeld-Hornusstraße) and certain delivery vehicles are allowed to use this street now. These restrictions do not affect the part of Kaiser-Joseph-Straße which is located south of Martinstor.