Salzkammergut: Seven municipalities are planning a shared cycle path network

The saddle is comfortable for leisure use. Those who want to go fast get on a racing bike, those for whom time is not the most important motivation make do with an e-bike. In everyday life, however, things look completely different: According to current traffic surveys, only 5.6 percent of trips in Upper Austria are made by bike. In Vorarlberg, for example, there is three times as much cycling.

The potential is even greater: two thirds of the distances covered every day in Upper Austria are shorter than five kilometers – an optimal cycling distance. On top of that, you would be climate-friendly, cost-effective and healthy.

That’s why the communities in the Vöckla-Ager climate and energy model region want to give everyday cycling a boost. There have already been steps in this direction. In the everyday cycling project “Active Network” Vöckla-Ager (leader project), main cycle routes were developed and their deficiencies and gaps were identified.

Now the community of Gampern invited people to a round table to continue the journey: representatives and cycling representatives from the communities of Gampern, Seewalchen, Timelkam, Lenzing, Neukirchen, Vöcklamarkt and Berg, the state of Upper Austria, the road maintenance department and the police met to further develop cross-community everyday cycling measures. v

Above all, the meeting was about discussing new cycle paths and routes between communities. It became clear that existing cycle routes need to be made even more visible to the population: routes that can be found on the internet and in apps need to be updated, and main routes need to be better signposted.

New meeting in autumn

In order to be able to systematically expand additional cycle paths, which together result in a well-usable network of paths, a well-coordinated approach between the state and the municipalities is required. That is why another meeting was decided for autumn 2024. By then, “the piecemeal of municipal planning steps for cycle path expansion should be brought together into a larger, regional picture,” as the Vöckla-Ager climate and energy model region says.