Greilinger citizens' meeting: Discussion about the cycle path on the B 13

Created: 05/20/2022, 06:00

The citizens' meeting in the Greilinger community hall was well attended.

© Patrick Star

Greiling – In the past three years, many questions have accumulated in Greiling.

There was an unusually high number of requests to speak at the recent town hall meeting.

However, the most discussed was the cycle path on the B 13 - a project in which nothing has progressed for 20 years.

The discussion was initiated by local resident Hans Loidl.

He remarked that you can drive quite a bit on Sachsenkamer Straße, "but then it's up to you".

If you want to drive to Ellbach or to go swimming, you have to drive 400 meters on the B 13: "If trucks drive past you, it gets extremely dangerous." If there was a footpath between Untermühlberg and the Epp nursery, that would be the problem in his opinion solved.

Anton Margreiter, Mayor of Greiling © Staar

"The funding has been available for 20 years," reported Mayor Anton Margreiter.

So far, however, the construction has failed because some property owners could not get used to it.

When the approval of the Epp nursery was due, a good opportunity was missed to push ahead with the construction of the cycle path, Michael Schmidt criticized: "You could have said that the construction would only be approved if two meters were given up for the cycle path." The current situation is "a drama, because the drivers sometimes shoot past you at a speed of 150, even if they are not actually allowed to do so."

At the same time, Schmidt admitted that you have to be sensitive to this issue.

It is understandable that the affected farmers are not enthusiastic when cyclists drive past their cows: "And bicycle traffic is increasing." Schmidt recommended examining an alternative route along the railway track: "The railway workers are always on the move in this area .”

The basic need for cycle paths is to be determined

Margreiter replied that such a transport project stands and falls with the willingness of the owners to make land available.

In contrast to road construction, there is no possibility of expropriation, "unless the need is so urgent that there is no other way."

The problem is not the farmers' unwillingness to give up land, municipal councilor Georg Bichlmair replied: "I know that residents would make the land available if they were allowed to continue using it for agriculture." But this is not permitted for insurance reasons.

If, for example, a cyclist falls because the bike path is dirty or because he slips on a cowpat, the farmer can be held liable: "And of course they don't want to be liable."

When the topic of cycle paths first came up 20 years ago, both sides argued "wrongly", said Margreiter.

Nowadays you have to think in other categories.

First of all, the basic needs have to be determined at a round table.

Then you have to seek a conversation with the district office: "There is always a second and third chance."