“Get on your bike and, in sunshine and with a slight headwind, past Grünwald Castle, then turn left onto the brand new pedestrian and cycle bridge. Without effort over the Isar to Höllriegelskreuth and then on the cycle path through the most beautiful landscapes to the bathing beach on Lake Starnberg cycle to cool down. Moments of happiness.” Grünwalder Grünen municipal councilor Ingrid Reinhart still wants to experience this vision of the future, as she said in 2018 at a photo opportunity at the possible starting point of the bridge. But although some preparatory work has already been done for the project, implementation is not progressing. The reason: because the district office has other priorities, the necessary nature conservation review is still pending.
The passionate cyclist Reinhart had the idea for the new connection across the Isar back in 2015. At the time, it occurred to her that it would be nice not to cycle or push the two mountains between Grünwald and Pullach on the road. On the one hand, because this can often be very dangerous for people on two-wheelers. On the other hand, because the two communities are actually not that far apart. Vogelfluglinie anyway. If you could bridge this short distance, for example, that would be a great relief, especially for cyclists. But you could also walk across comfortably without cars rushing by. The Greens made a motion in the municipal council.
The Greens municipal councilor Ingrid Reinhart (sixth from left) with colleagues at the possible starting point of the bridge on Dr.-Engelsperger-Straße.
(Photo: private)
A needs analysis, which was finally prepared in 2021 after repeated follow-up, was at least partly correct for Reinhart. The engineering office Schlothauer und Wauer carried out surveys and counts on behalf of the municipality of Grünwald. The result was that cyclists would very much like to use such a bridge over the Isar. 58 percent said they drive over it regularly. The engineers found that such a bridge would also be a good addition to the supra-municipal network of cycle paths. Furthermore, it would be a good way to reach the S-Bahn in Pullach as well as the schools there. Pedestrians, on the other hand, saw less benefit in a bridge because they also have many other options.
Reinhart also has other scenarios in mind for use: “Instead of wasting time in the morning or evening traffic jams on the Grünwalder Bridge, cross the Isar on the cycle bridge and get to work in a good mood.” Or: “For shopping, ice cream, playing boules, or drinking coffee, you can cycle or walk comfortably across the Isar to the other community. Expands the range of consumer goods and brings the two communities of Pullach and Grünwald closer together.” Unfortunately, however, Reinhart also knows that all of these are “just sweet dreams” at the moment. And that despite the fact that the result of a student master’s thesis at the Technical University of Munich with Professor Oliver Fischer has been available since 2019, which came to the conclusion: “Everything is possible, the bridge is fundamentally feasible.”
Many technical possibilities have been investigated for this. For example, it came out that the distance to the edge of the slope should be 30 meters. Various locations on the Grünwald side were inspected. There was a risk of landslides along the Haben Schadenstrasse, and ultimately Dr.-Engelsperger-Strasse was found to be the most suitable location. There you would need a larger span for the bridge, but there is no risk of slipping and it is probably the most traffic-friendly location, and the distance to the other bridges on the Isar is also ideal.
The Greens initially envisioned a suspension bridge. However, this proved to be unsuitable for the master’s thesis due to the high susceptibility to vibration. It could therefore not be used by cyclists, at most by pedestrians, such as the Charles Kuonen Bridge in Switzerland, at 494 meters the longest suspension bridge in the world, which opened in 2017. A cable-stayed bridge was also examined, but ultimately an arch bridge was declared the best option.
A report will be presented in the fall
As far as the technical feasibility. But even that is far from the end. There is no site inspection under nature conservation law. This was initiated by the district office by commissioning an engineering office. Apparently there are already results. However, these would still have to be “properly checked” by those responsible in the district office, as Reinhart knows. Unfortunately, there is currently no staff for this in the Lower Nature Conservation Authority. This was announced by the office of the municipality of Grünwald in response to multiple inquiries. “I call there regularly,” reports main office manager Tobias Dietz. But he always hears the same thing: Because of the Russian war against Ukraine and because of the corona pandemic, those responsible were transferred to other positions in the office. The project is therefore “indefinitely on hold”.
When asked in the press office of the district office, one learns that the nature conservation report is not yet complete. Its results would only be presented to the district office in the autumn. So Ingrid Reinhart can only hope that she will live to see the completion of such a bridge for moments of happiness.