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Zurich City Councilor Richard Wolff is back: there will be no traffic attempts on Bellerivestrasse this spring with a reduction from four to two lanes. And Wolff hands the file over to his colleague from the city council, Karin Rykart.
The Bellerivestrasse will not be touched at the moment.
Zurich civil engineering supervisor Richard Wolff (al.) Has gotten used to dropping traffic bombs in passing. Wolff provided information Friday on highway construction projects in the coming year; Again, it was about more trees, more speed 30, more bike lanes, and less space for cars. But then Wolff said the following sentence: “There will be no attempted traffic on Bellerivestrasse this spring.” And he kept talking as if there was nothing.
The traffic attempt had caused a lot of bad blood. Because this would have been nothing more than a sensible reduction from four to two tracks on the incidence axis of the right bank of Lake Zurich in the city of Zurich for six months. Wolff had announced this trafficking attempt for next April with as much indifference as he has now abandoned it, that is, in a subordinate clause during his statements at the municipal council.
A bike lane should have been created in the removed lanes, initially temporarily. For years, red-green politicians have been calling for a continuous cycle route in the lake basin. After his announcement, Wolff was met with much misunderstanding. Long traffic jams and significant additional loads for the district were feared. The prospect of the caravans to the city limits of Zollikon sparked discontent.
Misrepresented studies
In addition, Wolff had commissioned two studies. They showed that the planned lane reduction will cause problems. You should not have a continuous lane reduction without affecting performance. There was talk of busy traffic situations and long delays.
Wolff had presented this differently at the local council and said that the removal of the lane would not cause any major impediments because Bellevue was the real bottleneck. Wolff only released the two studies after Tamedia newspapers had forced him to do so with a request based on the data and information protection law.
Not a word about the change of file
On Friday, Wolff emphasized that the traffic test would already take place, perhaps this year or next. “Postponed is not canceled.” Because the Bellerivestrasse has to be rehabilitated anyway, and then a temporary lane reduction will be inevitable. Wolff was unable to explain conclusively why the civil engineering department is now back on the road, even when asked. Currently the framework conditions do not exist and more time is needed for discussions on participation in the neighborhood and with other partners.
After the announcement of the traffic trial, many members of a working group that had been looking for solutions for the Bellerivestrasse, which was in need of renovation, ended their cooperation, namely the ACS and TCS, the cantonal and municipal trade associations and Seefeld. Trade association. Above all, the canton reacted extremely coldly to Wolff’s announcement, noting that the permanent removal of lanes would have to be approved by the governing council. Wolff said on Friday they are also in talks with the canton, “it is going well.”
Wolff did not say a word about the fact that he was no longer involved in these conversations. Wolff has handed over responsibility for the Bellerivestrasse to his colleague Karin Rykart, head of the security department. The department spokesman there, Mathias Ninck, confirms it upon request. Especially with regards to discussions with the parties involved, a reboot under the leadership of someone else would certainly be helpful, says Ninck. There was no pressure on the part of the city council in this regard, but the step was taken by mutual agreement between the department heads.
The personnel change took place weeks ago. Rykart has already held talks, specifically with representatives of the marine communities. These would also be affected by the project, but were not present in the previous discussions. When asked how far the dialogue with the canton had advanced, Ninck responded as follows: “The point now is to engage everyone involved again.”
Opening to a new beginning
A new attempt responds to the needs of the associations, which had turned their back on Wolff in the fall. Lorenz Knecht, director of the Zurich section of the Swiss Automobile Club, says this is only possible with new people. Basically, the idea of such a collaboration is an opportunity. There is no doubt that the street needs to be renovated. “But you have to look at it in an ideologically neutral way.” He thinks it makes sense to include the Gold Coast communities.
The cantonal councilor of the FDP, Marc Bourgeois, was a member of the support group. He says: “Richard Wolff had no choice but to postpone the attempt. The governing council has clearly expressed its skepticism and the studies initially kept secret by the city have confirmed their fears. “The definitive reduction of lane is excluded by the provisions of the anti-traffic article of the cantonal constitution.
When it comes to a new attempt, the canton has to be on board, says Bourgeois. And if there were a new chaperone group, they should think about a continuous cycle route on Dufourstrasse, while at the same time banishing trailing traffic. Until now you have always been stuck with this idea. “It was obvious that the city was following its own approach with Bellerivestrasse and did not really want to solve the bicycle problem.” Bourgeois would be prepared for a cycle route on Dufourstrasse, as long as the problem with parking spaces in the blue zone can be solved there, which would have to give way.
Frantic cyclists annoy schoolchildren
Martin Schmid, member of the board of directors of the Riesbach district association, also finds an interesting option a bike route on Dufourstrasse. But, he emphasizes, as a complement, not as an alternative to Bellerivestrasse. This also applies to Mühlebachstrasse, one of the first “preferred bike routes” that the city council is currently tackling. “At the Mühlebach school we already have a problem with cyclists not giving way to schoolchildren when crossing the street.” This situation would be aggravated if bicycle traffic were concentrated solely on the Mühlebach route.
In terms of content, the neighborhood association still considers a traffic test on Bellerivestrasse to be a good opportunity to test the effects of lane reduction. But like the bourgeois representatives, Schmid would like the communities of Gold Coast and the canton to be at the table, “then the process would be less up in the air.”
