It did not take long before our publication was full of comments. The editorial team wanted to know on its bamberg facebook page how the traffic regulation in the lange strabe was received after six months of practice. Have motorists and especially cyclists become accustomed to having to share the busy boulevard at a narrow point?? Is the anger over the banishment of cyclists faded, which had led to many nasty comments and even a wire demo in bamberg?
The rush of opinions rather suggests the opposite. Readers were unabashed in their condemnation of the removal of an apparently functioning bicycle path. Several times there is talk of a sign burger prank. B, for example, finds less flattering words: "the biggest nonsense ever devised. Makes the traffic situation only unnecessarily dangerous for cyclists."
Then there is this sentence to read: "it is an insult to cover an existing bike path with flower cubes and only wait until the first bad accident occurs."
Sometimes city hall decisions are difficult to communicate: when the majority in the environment senate approved the new regulations in may, using the friction closure method and with dozens of pictograms painted on the asphalt, there was actually still hope on maxplatz that bamberger traffic participants would become accustomed to them…
But half a year after the appearance of the flower cube, which repels cyclists, the safety issue in the lange strabe remains as relevant as ever. And it is not only those who pedal themselves who are unsafe. Udo skrzypczak, head of the bamberg police department, can hardly conceal his skepticism about the forced confluence of more than 9,300 motorists and 4,200 cyclists a day on a road barely four meters wide. Even if there has not yet been a serious accident: "there is a certain danger here that we don't like, says skrzypczak. An improvement would be useful from the point of view of the police. "We don't want to wait until something happens."
"End danger situation"
As recently as october, the green parliamentary group submitted a motion calling for "an immediate end to the dangerous situation at lange strabe". The GAL was also reacting to a proposal by the CSU in june to replace the short-term parking spaces on the opposite side with a restricted no-stopping zone – an unusual signal after the CSU had always voted against the removal of parking spaces. If this were to happen, 14 parking spaces would be lost, which were highly valued by retailers, service providers and restaurants.
Anyone who takes a look at the situation on site quickly realizes, however, that even without parking spaces the valve-like narrowing of lange strabe would not have been eliminated. It was created at the beginning of the year by a paving extending from hellerstrabe far into lange strabe. At that time, following a plan from 2012, the curbs were brought forward and the sidewalk was widened, without any recognizable design benefit being associated with it. If you follow the mental line of the former bicycle path today, you are rudely stopped by the curb and a row of bicycle stands, the entrance to hellerstrabe seems overdimensioned.
Helmut muller (CSU) had already recognized this grievance in may and suggested a quick improvement – the lowering of the freshly laid curbs. Not even his own faction followed him.
Even in the winter of 2015, things do not look like they will be remedied quickly. A "lange strabe" working group has been formed across all factions in the city forms. But the consultation on the long-term redesign of the shopping street with possible traffic calming and high level construction from 2017 onwards. Background: next year, construction of the "an der mauer" commercial district is to begin and also the former easy living looks forward to a renovation.
In the meantime, bicyclists and motorists have to put up with a provisional arrangement that is met with disapproval by many: "this new regulation is extremely dangerous, just once you're not careful and the bicyclist comes under the wheels", writes the bamberger M.