The city of Garching will join the initiative “Cities worth living through reasonable speeds”. The city council made the decision on Monday evening. The nationwide initiative was launched in 2021 by the cities of Freiburg, Leipzig, Aachen, Augsburg, Ulm, Hanover and Münster. She now counts more than 470 municipalities among her supporters. They are demanding that the federal government give the municipalities more decision-making powers to set the maximum speed on their inner-city streets – so that it becomes easier to set a 30 km/h speed limit there.
So far, the road traffic regulations in Germany have stipulated that the standard speed within built-up areas is 50 kilometers per hour. Tempo 30 can only be ordered in specific dangerous situations or in front of social facilities such as schools or day care centers. But that doesn’t reflect the reality of many cities, argue the initiative’s supporters. In many cases, lower speeds would not only make sense to increase safety, especially for cyclists and pedestrians. But also to reduce noise and carbon dioxide pollution, making the streets more pleasant places to be.
Specifically, it is about the Munich street
Above all, the city of Garching hopes that the initiative will provide leverage to improve the situation on Münchner Strasse. The city council had discussed several times how it could be possible to safely guide cars, cyclists and pedestrians alike on through-roads. Especially in the center of town, where Münchner Straße winds around tight curves along Maibaumplatz and the sidewalks are very narrow in some places, conflict situations can easily arise.
Most recently, the city council group of “Bürger für Garching” had requested that the speed on the section of road between Auweg and Garchinger Augustiner be limited to 30 kilometers per hour. However, the Münchner Straße is not a local road, but a state road, so it is not up to the city of Garching to decide about it, but the state road traffic authority. However, this does not see the legal requirements for Tempo 30.
A site visit with those responsible from the city, the Munich district office, the Freising state building authority, the police and the ADFC last summer also revealed that cyclists should no longer ride on the sidewalk between Auweg and Garchinger Augustiner, but in future on Münchner Straße. The previously attached signs “Cyclists free” for the sidewalk are to be removed soon and motorists and cyclists will be made aware of the new regulation. In Garching, it is also hoped that this will ease the situation in front of the entrances to the bakeries.