Cycling concept
On 22 September 2023, the municipal council adopted the cycling concept for the municipality of Rüdersdorf bei Berlin. A report on the implementation of the cycling concept is to be submitted to the municipal council once a year in the second quarter of 2024.
Summary
Developments in recent years have put the bicycle in the fast lane. E-bikes have evolved from a niche product to a mass phenomenon, making cycling more attractive to both new and old target groups. Added to this is a change in health and climate awareness as well as increased fuel costs. Many employers are also aware of the attractiveness of cycling and are creating bike fleets for their own companies or enabling their employees to lease bikes through the company. As a healthy and almost climate-neutral alternative means of transport, the bicycle is assigned a central role in the transport and energy transition. All of these factors have made the switch to or more intensive use of the bicycle worthwhile for many people.
As a means of transport for both everyday and leisure use, the bicycle places significantly fewer demands on infrastructure than motorised transport. Nevertheless, safe, direct and convenient cycle paths offer benefits for all road users.
The aim of the municipality of Rüdersdorf near Berlin is to give significantly more priority to bicycle traffic. The construction and expansion, but also the maintenance of existing cycle paths is urgently required. Three factors play a role here:
- The inner development of the neighbourhoods.
- The connection between the four districts of the municipality.
- The connection to the surrounding communities and districts.
The implementation of the cycling concept serves to increase both road safety and the attractiveness of cycling in the municipality, with both points being mutually dependent. Safe routes to school are the top priority for implementation.
This cycle path concept was created to
- make routes to school safer;
- to improve destination and source traffic from and to the neighbouring municipalities, between and within the districts;
- increase the attractiveness of sights and excursion destinations;
- improve connections to buses and trains (local public transport) and make them more attractive for bicycle users.
The concept also considers the planning of high-speed cycle path connections to the S-Bahn and regional transport stations, to the industrial estates in the municipal area and in the direction of Grünheide / Fangschleuse to the TESLA plant.
The aim of the concept is not to carry out detailed planning. Rather, the aim is to work out where there are gaps in the existing cycle path network, where possible bottlenecks or danger spots lurk and also where existing cycle paths need to be revised or repaired. In addition, care must be taken to ensure that future construction areas include provision for cycle paths as a matter of course so that no new gaps are created. Particularly when closing gaps, this concept cannot provide a definitive answer as to which type of cycling facility should be built in each case. This remains subject to the detailed planning that is always required prior to construction. For the sake of clarity, it should be noted that a cycle path does not always have to be a surface sealed with asphalt or paving. Especially in areas of forests and fields, water-bound and near-natural surfaces are preferable.
The municipality of Rüdersdorf near Berlin currently has around 27 kilometres of cycle paths. If all of the measures proposed here are implemented, the number of paths should roughly double.