Cadolzburg in Middle Franconia has 11,500 inhabitants, but thousands of cars drive through the town every day. “At peak times there are 18,000 vehicles per day,” said Mayor Bernd Obst (CSU/FWG). Now the market community is pressing the brakes, at least when it comes to speed. Soon only a speed of 30 kilometers per hour will be allowed on the through road – as a model test. Because a lower speed than the usual 50 km/h may only be ordered by municipalities in particularly dangerous situations, for example in front of a school. A municipality cannot simply decide to increase the speed limit to 30 km/h on a large scale. A cross-party alliance therefore started a petition in Cadolzburg, said Obst.
As early as 2018, there was a speed limit of 30 kilometers per hour for a two-year pilot project on parts of the town. This should now be continued along the entire route, the petition demanded. With success: the transport committee of the state parliament gave the green light, as the chairman Sebastian Körber (FDP) said. However, the beginning is still open.
“The state government will decide as soon as possible on how to continue the completed pilot project,” says the Interior Ministry in Munich. Other municipalities also want to be able to determine for themselves which maximum speed should apply where. Seven German cities, including Augsburg, have therefore founded a corresponding initiative with the German Association of Cities in order to be able to test 30 km/h on a large scale in a pilot project. Other municipalities have joined.
According to the demands of the SPD and the Greens, Nuremberg should also support the initiative. The responsible traffic committee will deal with the issue after the summer break, said a city spokesman. In Cadolzburg and other communities, people are now hoping for the federal government. In the coalition agreement, they had agreed to adapt the road traffic regulations in such a way that the federal states and local authorities were given more decision-making leeway.