Memmingen traffic remains a Herculean task

Created: 05/14/2022, 08:00

By: Tom Otto

More and more cities want to set up 30 km/h zones themselves.

So far, the StVO has prevented this and has set strict limits for the municipalities.

The Transport Committee is calling for this to change in Memmingen in the future.

© Tom Otto

Memmingen - The transport committee of the city is unanimously facing the future task of a livable mobility design in Memmingen.

At its most recent meeting in the middle of the week, the pending resolutions were all passed unanimously. 

The Memmingen public transport officer Jan Kutschick presented the results of the first study on the structures of public transport.

Currently, according to Kutschick, “Corona still has public transport under control”, the number of passengers is still well below the level before the crisis, the obligation to wear masks in public transport is still preventing many people from using buses and trains.

Memmingen and the districts of Günzburg and Unterallgäu want to have the transport and economic sense of integrating rail and bus transport into a transport and tariff association checked.

Stable population development with a slight decrease in the employable age group is forecast for the city of Memmingen.

This leads to a slight decrease in the potential for regular customers and an increasing importance of leisure travel by occasional users.

The barriers to access to public transport that exist today in the form of complicated tariff structures and inconsistent passenger information are to be dismantled.

The transport committee unanimously decided on a second study, which should also determine the economic sense of the network solution.

"City Initiative Tempo 30"

So far, the cities and municipalities have been subject to narrow limits for the establishment of 30 km/h zones by the nationwide road traffic regulations (StVO).

More than 140 cities have now joined forces to form a "city initiative 30 km/h" that wants to change the StVO on these points.

Seven of these large cities have applied as model cities to test the nationwide introduction of 30 km/h zones.

Memmingen should now also join this initiative, according to the unanimous vote of the transport committee.

The cities should be given the freedom to arrange Tempo 30 wherever they think it makes sense, including for the main transport network or as a standard speed for the entire city area.

With the “Town Initiative Tempo 30” of the German Association of Cities, this appeal is to be made to federal politicians and thus to make traffic in the cities safer, cleaner, quieter, more social, ecological and building culture.

Possible negative effects on the flow of traffic must be prevented by appropriate measures.

Allgäuer Strasse railway overpass

The Allgäuer Straße level crossing will be replaced by a railway overpass.

The start of construction is planned for 2026.

Completion is scheduled for 2028.

During the construction period, motorized traffic on Allgäuer Strasse is to be reduced to one lane each and routed east of the excavation pit over a level crossing that is to be newly built.

Pedestrians and cyclists should use the neighboring level crossing in Dickenreiser Weg during this time, which was also decided unanimously by the transport committee.

If you compare the direct route between the Schanzmeister crossing with the next larger crossing on Oberbrühlstrasse (about 680 meters) with the detour route via Dickenreiser Weg and Bahntrassenweg (about 950 meters), the result is a detour of around 270 meters.

There is little traffic on Dickenreiser Weg because the level crossing is only open to pedestrians and cyclists.

This detour is justifiable for reasons of traffic safety.

As soon as the paths along Allgäuer Straße are passable again, the diversion will be lifted.