How can the new railway bridge become more attractive for motorists? A lively discussion has broken out around this question since the presentation of the usage figures on the occasion of the one-year anniversary of the bridge. As reported, around 7,000 drivers use the new possibility to cross the Danube every day, more than twice as many were on the road on its predecessor, which was demolished in 2016. A circumstance that the Vice Mayor Martin Hajart (VP), who is responsible for traffic, attributes primarily to shift effects on the bypasses of the Voestbrücke.
For Mayor Klaus Luger, however, these are also partly to blame for problem areas on the bridge itself. Like many OÖN readers, the SP politician criticizes the up and down of the new railway bridge. Improvements could be achieved quickly and inexpensively. “You don’t need a Caterpillar to improve something here,” said Luger during a local inspection with the OÖ Nachrichten.
Among other things, the mayor is campaigning for there to be two right-turn lanes on the Linz side and a combined left and straight lane on the Donaulände – with the argument that most bridge users would turn right into the city center. In addition, Luger on the Urfahraner side can imagine deactivating the traffic lights in a pilot test to speed up the flow of traffic. Turning left into Ferihumerstraße is prohibited there.
Deputy Mayor Hajart now announces that he will have another check carried out to see whether and which optimizations are possible. “But the goal isn’t to attract more traffic, we don’t want to pull traffic from the bypasses and the Voestbrücke onto the railway bridge,” says Hajart, also with a view to the settlement area on the Urfahraner side. The West Ring Bridge, which is currently under construction, will relieve the Nibelungen Bridge and is scheduled to be opened to traffic in autumn 2024.
The Untere Donaulände has already reached its capacity limit, and in view of the brisk construction activity in the harbor district, a traffic concept for the entire east of Linz must be developed, it is said. One focus should be the strengthening of soft forms of mobility (keyword: public transport connections). (jp)
Source: Nachrichten
