The city of Wolfratshausen wants to become even more bicycle-friendly. A 500-meter-long extra lane for cyclists, which the municipality has created, is intended to help.
Wolfratshausen - It is a model project: The city had an extra lane marked in white for cyclists on Sauerlacher Strasse on Wednesday. This is initially a temporary solution, the test phase ends on October 30th of this year. The Loisachstadt, which has officially been allowed to call itself a “bicycle-friendly municipality” since 2018, had applied for the project and won the bid, as reported.
The Technical University of Nuremberg, in cooperation with the working group for bicycle-friendly municipalities in Bavaria, is investigating the effects of various options for cycling on main roads within the city as part of a research program funded by the Bavarian Ministry of Transport. "The aim is to scientifically record the effects on traffic safety and the flow of traffic," explains town hall employee Wolfgang Mucha. For Wolfratshausen, the model project of a one-sided protective strip on Sauerlacher Strasse was selected. It begins at the S-Bahn station and runs out of town on the south side - along the Rosen pharmacy and the Aral gas station - to the cemetery in the Nantwein district. The extra lane is 1.50 meters wide and around 550 meters long.
Parking spaces on the south side are blocked
"In the course of the implementation of the model project, the parking spaces on the southern side of Sauerlacher Strasse have to be closed due to the narrow road conditions and the resulting safety distance," Mucha emphasizes. Also very important: On the sidewalk on the north side of Sauerlacher Straße, which the privileged pedestrians share with cyclists, cyclists are now only allowed to roll into town (towards the S-Bahn station) - no longer out of town towards Pupplinger Au. The signage for the sidewalk has been changed accordingly, Mucha reports in an interview with our newspaper. "When going out of town, cyclists have to use the new protective strip on Sauerlacher Strasse."
In June last year, the head of the municipal building authority, Susanne Leonhard, announced that the aforementioned extra lane would be marked. Prior to this, specialist authorities such as the Wolfratshauser police, the district authority in Bad Tölz and the state building authority in Weilheim had given their blessing to the project. Only children up to the age of ten are exempt from the requirement to use the new protective strip.
Only those who feel safe as a cyclist will use the bike often. "
Sarah Guttenberger, managing director of the working group for bicycle-friendly municipalities in Bavaria.Nothing will change for cars and trucks in the section between the S-Bahn station and the intersection of Sauerlacher Strasse / Schießstättstrasse / Weidacher Hauptstrasse. According to Leonhard, the road is wide enough “for a good togetherness”, but consideration is the be-all and end-all when trucks encounter traffic.
The measure is a further step on the way to make the rafting town even more bicycle-friendly, said Mucha. All project participants take stock after October 30th. The managing director of the working group for bicycle-friendly municipalities in Bavaria, Sarah Guttenberger, sums up: “The research project is intended to evaluate measures for more bicycle-friendliness and traffic safety in the municipalities. Only those who feel safe as a cyclist will use the bike often. "
