Commenting on the discussion about the roundabout on Von-Esmarch-Straße in Gievenbeck, Andrea Blome and Albert Wenzel, spokespersons for the Greens' council group, state:
“The redesign of the roundabout has been just as controversial among the public as it has been in politics. In our view, the available expert reports would also have allowed a decision in favour of an optimised roundabout. Many residents also consider safety improvements, such as setting back the cycle crossings and raising the surface at the exits, to be sensible.
However, we have had to recognise that there will be no democratic majority on the city council for this optimised redesign and preservation of the roundabout. We Greens do not want a standstill, because the current situation is bad. We must therefore avoid delays. That is why we will abstain in the vote, in order to make a decision possible now.”
Lia Kirsch, leader of the SPD council group, emphasises:
“In the end, we cannot ignore the compelling arguments of various expert reports which attribute greater safety to traffic lights, particularly for vulnerable road users. For this reason, the SPD will vote in the meeting of the transport committee in favour of the traffic-light solution proposed by the Lord Mayor and the administration. We will pursue our shared goal of advancing the transport transition and strengthening walking, cycling and public transport with further measures across the entire city.”
Maren Berkenheide, spokesperson for the Volt council group, states:
“We still do not consider a junction with traffic lights to be the best solution. A roundabout optimised along Dutch lines would have improved road safety promptly, without contradicting the goals of the jointly adopted Mobility Master Plan and without creating irreversible facts for decades.
However, there is no democratic majority on the council for this pragmatic approach. We respect this decision. In order not to prolong the years of standstill at this accident black spot any further, Volt will abstain in the vote.”
Volt's statement for the minutes in the Committee for Transport and Mobility (AVM) on 6 May 2026:
The Volt group still considers a modernisation of the roundabout to be sensible. As early as 2020, the consultancy Brilon Bondzio Weiser recommended that the administration modernise the roundabout, after the accident commission (Unfallkommission) had dealt with the accident site for the first time. The crossings were to be set back by five metres and raised, in order to improve sightlines between cyclists and motor vehicles and to create a waiting area for vehicles entering and leaving the roundabout. Unfortunately, the administration did not follow this recommendation, so that, because its design no longer meets current standards, the roundabout is still an accident black spot today, more than six years later. The administration ultimately did not implement the measures because traffic forecasts for 2035 indicated that the roundabout might become overloaded. However, these forecasts were drawn up before the Münster Mobility Master Plan 2035+ (Masterplan Mobilität Münster 2035+) was adopted, and their modal split differs greatly from the goals of the master plan.
With the adoption of the master plan, 65 of the 66 councillors voting, and thus all democratic parties, expressed their will to strengthen walking, cycling and public transport in Münster, even at the expense of private motor traffic. Now an extremely generously dimensioned junction with traffic lights is to be built on Von-Esmarch-Straße. This will induce additional motor traffic and drastically reduce travel comfort for cyclists and pedestrians. In our view, this is a step backwards from the self-imposed goals of the Mobility Master Plan.
We also fear that some of the cycle traffic from Gievenbeck will divert to Gievenbecker Weg to the north. There, too, is a roundabout with high volumes of motor and cycle traffic. In the accident statistics for 2022–2024, it is recorded with three to five accidents per year involving motor vehicles and bicycles. On top of this, there are numerous near misses caused by vehicles entering and leaving the roundabout failing to give way, just as at Von-Esmarch-Straße. It is to be feared that the higher volume of traffic will lead to rising accident figures there as well.
There is no question that the current state of the roundabout cannot be maintained. We would have argued for a pragmatic modernisation of the roundabout, which could easily cope with the current volume of traffic. Based on the available studies, accident figures would probably improve considerably. Should the administration's forecasts for 2035 come true – contrary to all the goals of the Mobility Master Plan – there would have been enough time to switch to a junction with traffic lights.
However, there is no democratic majority in the elected council for such a pragmatic approach. In order not to provoke any further standstill here, we are abstaining from the vote.
