Key point is done: Teufelsgraben cycle path will be finished in May

Created: 04/14/2022, 07:00

By: Andreas Höger

In a few weeks there will be cycling here: Mayors Michael Falkenhahn (right) and Christoph Schmid (middle) recently inspected the key point of the Teufelsgraben cycle path together with planner Attila Karpaty.

The empty pipes have now disappeared under asphalt.

In the background it goes to Holzham and Otterfing.

© Thomas Plettenberg

The key point is done: A complex retaining wall made of gabions carries the new cycle path between Otterfing and Holzkirchen over the Teufelsgraben.

After more than ten years of planning and a year of construction, it's hard to believe: the Teufelsgraben cycle path will open in mid-May.

Holzkirchen/Otterfing

- It would have had to be bad luck and hardly fitted the story of this Teufelsgraben cycle path if the construction work had gone through smoothly after all the delays in planning.

In the fall, the wrong frost protection gravel was installed in the substructure of the route that runs immediately west of the railway embankment between Otterfing and Holzkirchen.

The goal set at the start of construction (April 2021) of opening the cycle path in November could not be met.

The cold, wet weather also posed problems.

Immediately after the winter break, heavy rain flooded the construction site - things got particularly tricky in the Teufelsgraben passage, the deepest point of the 1.5-kilometer route.

"The water came from both sides," explained site manager Lucas Colella recently during a site inspection.

But now land is in sight: Below the railway embankment, gabions support a new embankment (berm) over a length of 120 meters, on which the cycle path runs.

A large part of the total costs (1.536 million euros) was used here.

"The alternative would have been an even more expensive bridge," says planner Attila Karpaty from the executing engineering office.

A 1.30 meter high wooden railing serves as fall protection.

The route is also partly used as an economic route

Coming from Otterfing, after the gabion passage, you climb a small ramp, the "steepest" climb (seven percent) of the new path.

In the Teufelsgraben itself, the path is 2.50 meters wide.

Where the route also serves as a farm track, three meters are asphalted.

Bollards in the middle of the path prevent the wrong vehicle from using the cycle path areas.

As a precaution, empty pipes were laid under the asphalt.

"The railways or the municipalities can fall back on it," explains Hans Kellner, head of the technical building authority in Holzkirchner town hall.

who was in charge of the project.

According to Karpaty, the various supply lines along the tracks were largely responsible for the delays in the planning phase.

Various railway companies have repeatedly expressed concerns that the cycle path is blocking access to the lines.

Fun park for reptiles

The nature conservation examination also consumed a lot of time.

Among other things, experts spent a year looking for flora and fauna worthy of protection.

"A biologist also accompanies the construction," explains Kellner.

At the edge of the path, workers created retreat areas for reptiles such as adders and lizards from Nagelfluh and dead wood.

Such a biotope was created as a central compensation area on a property near Holzham.

"A real fun park for reptiles," says Otterfing's Mayor Michael Falkenhahn (SPD).

Otterfing and Holzkirchen share the finances, about two thirds are accounted for by Holzkirchen.

Grants cover half of the cost.

"The cooperation between the communities went well," says Falkenhahn.

His Holzkirchner colleague Christoph Schmid (CSU) agrees: "A good example of inter-municipal cooperation."

The opening day for the Direttissima bikes is approaching.

which not only connects the two town centers better, but also functions as part of a planned direct bike connection from Munich to Lake Tegernsee.

"We are aiming for mid-May for the release," says Karpaty;

For safety reasons, the way is only released when all the components are ready.

You can find more information on this topic here.