It’s such a thing with the cycle paths in the district of Munich. New connections are constantly being built and opened, most recently the first section of the main bike connection between Sauerlach and Deisenhofen in the southern district or the bike path in Grasbrunn to the sports park and the bike path in the Großhelfendorf district of Ayingen on the district road there. However, not a single meter of the one large prestige project in the district has yet been built: the cycle expressway from the border of the state capital north to the university town of Garching and the town of Unterschleißheim.
Perhaps that is why Bavaria’s Minister of Transport, Kerstin Schreyer, is opting for a new strategy, which can be found in her program “Radoffensive Bayern” that the CSU Minister of State for Housing, Building and Transport launched at the end of last year: There you will find the funding program “Radwege im Wald ” again, which aims to upgrade existing forest and forest paths to paved cycle paths. In the district, this could lead to improvements, especially in the south. The Munich district office has identified an “urgent need for action” in the three forest areas of the district – Forstenrieder Park near Neuried, Grünwalder Forst and Perlacher Forst near Unterhaching – to improve the infrastructure for cyclists. This Tuesday, January 1st, the mobility committee of the district council will deal with the state government’s support program and will probably decide to include the three forest areas in the measure. The Minister of State promises subsidies of up to 90 percent of the costs when converting forest to paved cycle paths.
The Schreyer cycling offensive is tantamount to a U-turn in previous transport policy. After all, the idea of running cycle paths through forests and forests is not new, especially in the densely wooded south of the Munich district. For example, there is the paved main cycle route in the Perlacher Forest, which was inaugurated in 2005 on the occasion of the Federal Horticultural Show and is still very popular with day trippers and athletes. Other expansion and conversion plans in the three forests have always failed due to resistance from the Bavarian state forests.
“If the Free State starts to rethink this now, that would only be welcome. It annoys me that the state forests have always refused,” says Markus Büchler, member of the state parliament for the Greens and district council. The minister’s initiative makes sense, but it’s also a bit “hypocritical”, criticizes Büchler from Oberschleißheim, after all the CSU hasn’t really shown great zeal in expanding the cycling infrastructure. “Nevertheless, I also say that it is right to start now,” said Büchler; but he also restricts: “If the Free State takes over 90 percent, the question arises as to who will take over the remaining ten percent.”
However, according to Büchler, aspects of the environment and nature conservation must always be taken into account with cycle paths in forests, such as with water protection areas. In principle, according to the Green Party, it is possible to improve the infrastructure there quickly and inexpensively.
The fact that the mobility committee of the district council is to decide on admission to the funding program this Tuesday is also due to the deadline that the Ministry of Transport has set for the districts. They have to decide by the end of February whether they want to take part with selected projects. Then it will be decided who will receive which funds from the ten million euro pot provided by the ministry.
That’s not really a lot of money, criticizes the SPD parliamentary group spokesman in the district council, Florian Schardt, who nevertheless signals approval in the run-up to the meeting, albeit somewhat reluctantly. “It’s hard to say no to that,” said Ottobrunner, who also suspects calculation behind the minister’s offensive. “It’s a great title, a great label, but as a CSU you can’t pretend to be the giant climate country,” says Schardt. Because the state government does not dare to tackle the big questions and has broken several promises. “With the 10-H rule, the Free State is blocking climate change, including in the district,” says Schardt. “Without the rule, ten instead of just five wind turbines could be built in Forstenrieder Park.” The state government has also not kept the campaign promise of a 365-euro ticket, “and not a single meter has been built from the cycle expressway to Garching and Unterhaching, for which Minister Scheuer was celebrated,” says Schardt. “Now the minister’s initiative only seems like a fig leaf when it comes to climate protection.”
Nevertheless, the committee will probably agree, because last year it decided to expand the network of cycle paths in the forests and to contribute financially. This is primarily aimed at the route between Geiselgasteig and Unterhaching, which was examined as part of the so-called Radtangente, and which is in need of major improvement. And discussions with affected forest managers have already taken place, according to the district office. Now only the state government has to pay.