The "declaration" presented on Saturday by the Greens, SPD, FDP and Volt on the planned coalition agreement has raised new questions.

The term “overall transport concept” cannot be found explicitly in the contract itself.

However, it is now included in the supplementary “declaration” that was formulated after the coalition agreement was rejected by the FDP base and the associated wish of the Liberals for improvements in the subject of transport policy.

It also specifies that "external, independent scientific expertise" must be obtained in order to develop such an "overall traffic concept" and that "all those affected" must be involved.

Mechthild Harting

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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    In the coalition agreement, instead of an “overall transport concept”, it speaks of a “transport master plan” and that in future concepts for “complex measures” should be worked out together with citizens and experts. "We want to give the people on site, in cooperation with the local advisory councils, more opportunities to shape their environment," it says and: "It is important to us that central projects are scientifically supported."

    The fact that this “master plan traffic” is not explained in more detail in the coalition agreement has to do with the fact that the city parliament decided in the last session of the last electoral term on March 4th to develop such a “master plan for mobility and traffic” Approval of the FDP.

    According to his own statements, the current head of the transport department, Klaus Oesterling (SPD), has commissioned this master plan in the meantime.

    The city council decided that the plan should be available within 18 months of the award of the contract.

    Wait two years for the concept

    Another passage in the "Declaration" could cause more controversy within the proposed coalition. There it says: "All new permanent structural measures to be decided upon will only be implemented on the basis of the specific recommendation of the overall traffic plan." And further: "Only consensual or already approved templates can be implemented immediately." had to wait almost two years for the concept before new cycle lanes could be created. Others reassure them by pointing out that many of the long-established traffic plans have not yet been implemented, such as the renovation of the Bockenheimer Landstrasse. And bike lanes marked in red, including “clamping fixes”, are not “permanent structural measures”, but only temporary.

    The background to the clarifications demanded by the FDP is the Mainkai closure, which had led to considerable traffic problems, especially in Sachsenhausen. The FDP had sharply criticized the lockdown. “No one will make the mistake of isolating a single traffic measure in isolation, i.e. without advancing an overall concept, a second time,” the Greens now say. The coalition agreement says: "The Mainkai will be car-free again in this electoral period as part of an overall concept for motorized individual transport."