Vienna to Receive 24 Kilometers of New Bike Paths This Year
The bike path network in Vienna will also be further expanded this year. City Councilor for Transport Ulli Sima (SPÖ) presented the new bike routes on Thursday. More than 50 projects are planned for 2025, with some just beginning and others already completed. In total, there will be around 24 kilometers of new bike paths. The city is now focusing primarily on structurally separated facilities.
Meiselstraße to Get Two-Way Bike Path
The days of bike lanes running past parked cars are over in Vienna, as Sima confirmed at a joint event with cycling commissioner Martin Blum and NEOS mobility spokesperson Angelika Pipal-Leixner. A "highlight" of this year's program is the extension of the connection to the west of the city. This is a multi-year project, with a focus this year on Meiselstraße.
The section along Hütteldorfer Straße from Gürtel to Johnstraße is already completed. What follows now is the redesign of Meiselstraße. It is to be drastically traffic-calmed, equipped with a two-way bike path, and also greened. A structurally separated two-way lane will also be built on Alserbachstraße. In parallel, the redesign of Julius-Tandler-Platz will take place.
"Climate Highway" Instead of Highway in Floridsdorf
A first step will also be taken in the realization of a "climate highway" in Floridsdorf, which will be a total of six kilometers long. The connection, which can be strolled and cycled on, is to lead from the Old Danube to the city limits - on a route where a highway was once planned. The start will be the construction of the section between Satzingerweg and Leopoldauer Straße. There will also be a bus lane there.
It has already been announced that the city wants to take a more active role in shaping the area along the Danube Canal. These measures are also significant for cycling, because: For the first time, bike paths and pedestrian paths will be separated there. This will initially happen in the section of the Freda-Meissner-Blau-Promenade between Salztor Bridge and Marien Bridge. According to Sima, the connection over Praterstern will also be improved, where pedestrian and bicycle traffic will also be disentangled. Meanwhile, cars will be completely banned from Meiereistraße near Vorgartenstraße and Hauptallee.
New Bike Paths for Favoriten and Ottakring
The large-scale redesign of the Naschmarkt parking lot will also be used to create a cycling facility. It will extend from Margaritensteg to Linke Wienzeile. New additions in terms of bike paths have also been promised for Favoriten - where work is being done on Neilreichgasse - or Ottakring and Hernals. Traffic-calmed zones are being created in Seeböckgasse and Geblergasse.
How much the plans will cost this year is still open. It was said that the tenders have not yet been fully carried out. Therefore, the effort for the individual projects cannot yet be precisely assessed. However, it is assumed at City Hall that, as in previous years, around 30 million euros will likely be budgeted for this.
In total, it was highlighted today, around 100 kilometers of new cycling infrastructure have been initiated in this - soon to end - legislative period. "So much has never progressed as it has now," NEOS mobility spokesperson Pipal-Leixner expressed satisfaction with the results.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.