The Martin-Luther-Straße and the Giesinger Berg are a remnant of times when the car dominated traffic planning. Below the Church of the Holy Cross there is a traffic junction where cyclists and pedestrians don’t have it easy. In some sections there is no cycle path at all, and pedestrians who want to cross the intersection have to go through the underpass.
On Wednesday, the city council’s mobility committee decided to improve the situation. Because, among other things, the SPD had feared that the deletion of car lanes could lead to traffic jams, the topic was initially postponed. Now that the factions had gotten an idea of the situation during on-site visits, the green-red majority decided to at least try redistributing the street space.
The CSU rejected the proposal. The plans did not take enough account of the ideas for the “Giesinger Kirchplatz” and the planned bicycle bridge on the Giesinger Berg. In addition, the planned single-lane traffic routing will slow down public transport and exacerbate the problem of traffic jams. For CSU city councilor Andreas Babor, the “Giesinger Kirchplatz” project has died for the foreseeable future after the decision. The idea envisages a traffic-calmed square below the Holy Cross Church, while motorized traffic is relocated to an underground roundabout.
Wednesday’s decision envisages the following measures: The cycle routes on Martin-Luther-Straße will initially be provisionally marked in yellow and significantly widened, and one car lane in each direction will be eliminated. After a year, an assessment will be made on Martin-Luther-Strasse to what extent the omitted lane and the marked cycle lane will affect motor vehicle traffic and road safety.
The footpaths are slightly narrowed, but are still sufficiently wide. New bicycle parking spaces are to be created and new trees are to be planted.
At the intersection between Martin-Luther-, Silberhorn-, Ichostraße and Giesinger Berg, lanes for cars will be reduced, creating more space for cyclists and pedestrians as well as for greenery. There will be seamless cycle connections in all directions, and three new traffic lights for pedestrians and cyclists are also planned.
A new two-way cycle path and an additional new pedestrian path are being built on the south side of Ichostrasse to ensure safer access to the primary and secondary school there. In the future, there will only be one downhill lane for cars on the Giesinger Berg; uphill, two lanes will be maintained to support route 68 bus acceleration. Uphill, the previously shared footpath and cycle path will be separated. In the area of the railway overpass, the cycle paths will be widened to 2.30 meters. In addition, a request traffic light for cyclists will be installed from Giesinger Berg to Hebenstreitstrasse.
By autumn at the latest, the cycle paths should be marked in yellow and the traffic lights adjusted so that local public transport on Candidstrasse, Tegernseer Landstrasse, Grünwalder Strasse and at the Ichostrasse junction can run as smoothly as possible. There will be counts lasting several months in both summer and winter. The pilot project is scheduled to end in September 2024, after which the city council will decide again.
The best way to evaluate something, such as the bike lanes on Rosenheimer Strasse, is to try it out, said SPD traffic expert Nikolaus Gradl. Green City Councilor Christian Smolka said of the current situation at the Icho School that “unbearable” was a friendly description. After the decision, however, he said: “Today is a good day for the traffic turnaround in Munich.”