In an annex to proposal V/0115/2024, the administration has clearly come out in favour of the planned traffic trial on the Bült, but has argued for postponing the trial period. The idea is to speed up public transport and cycling through traffic and to improve the quality of public space by removing motor vehicle through traffic.
In the annex, the administration argues for postponing the traffic trial on the Bült until after 2026 because of construction work running in parallel, particularly on Weseler Str.; 2026 is the scheduled end of the construction work commissioned by Stadtnetze.
In principle, it is right and important for the administration to review the impact of construction work on traffic and to put it into perspective. Traffic trials must be no exception. Volt will therefore examine the figures presented by the administration closely and will also take into account the neglected aspect of “traffic evaporation”, i.e. a reduction in motor traffic volumes due, for example, to people switching to other modes of transport.
Martin Grewer, transport policy spokesperson, stresses:
“However, when it comes to the combination of construction work and the traffic trial, we clearly see a risk that the increased congestion caused by the roadworks, which is unavoidable in any case, could be attributed to a parallel traffic trial, to the detriment of the mobility transition. A mobility transition only works together with everyone involved, so it is important to avoid this impression. With this in mind, we also want to examine how we can offer people on Weseler Straße a good alternative during the construction work. After all, all common modes of transport can move considerably more traffic on less space than private motor vehicles.”
Martin Grewer
In the traffic trial on the Bült, the focus is on the goal of a liveable old town, not on the individual measure. Should this prove not to make sense after review, we must and will consider other projects with the same objective for the time being and carry out the trial at a later date.”
