Decision expected already on 14 January Is a driving ban in Bonn looming after all?
Bonn · The district government of Cologne is lagging behind with the implementation of the requirements of the clean air plan. This now diminishes the chances for the city of Bonn in the settlement negotiations in Münster.
It is not clear whether the 30 km/h speed limit on a section of Reuterstrasse can actually avert the impending driving ban for diesel vehicles up to Euro 5 and older petrol engines. The driving ban is to be decided as early as 14 January in a conciliation hearing before the Münster Higher Administrative Court. But until then further measures, which are prescribed in the air pollution control plan for Bonn for the improvement of the air quality along the Reuterstraße and thus for the prevention of a driving ban, which came into force in August, will probably not be implemented for a long time.
As reported, the measures laid down by the Cologne district government in the clean air plan also include signage on the motorways around Bonn, whereby motorists wishing to drive south via Bonn will in future be redirected over a wide north and south bridge, and/or a traffic light on the motorway exits in the direction of Reuterstraße. These measures would have to be implemented by Landesbetrieb Straßen NRW. However, nothing is known about them at the moment. "We must receive a corresponding order, but so far we have not received an order from the district government of Cologne," Bernd Aulmann from the Straßen-NRW branch in Ville-Eifel assured GA on Wednesday. He does not know why no order has yet been placed with Strassen NRW.
The district government responded to GA demand by saying that implementation had been delayed because many different players had to be involved in view of the complex issue. The motorway signage is now being produced and can be installed quickly. The district government could not say when this would happen. An expert opinion had been commissioned for the possible „Pförtnerung“ (closing of lanes). At present, it is also not possible to say when the results will be available.
How the city of Bonn or its responsible city planning officer Helmut Wiesner evaluates this delay was not known on Wednesday. In any case, the city has already partially fulfilled its contribution to the so-called Reuterstraße relief package laid down in the Clean Air Plan. As reported, on Tuesday the administration had ten speed-30 signs erected on Reuterstraße in the section between the Botanical Garden and the Bonn Valley Trail. The signs will be taped over until 31 December and will apply from 1 January. The traffic lights are not yet to be changed, but will be kept in view for the time being. The real traffic situation will show whether optimisations at the traffic lights are necessary. In addition, drivers must be prepared to ensure that speed limits are strictly observed in the affected section of Reuterstrasse by the use of mobile speed cameras.
The background to the whole discussion is a complaint filed by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) with the Cologne Administrative Court. The DUH demands driving bans because of excessive nitrogen oxide values at the Reuterstraße and also at the Belderberg. The Administrative Court granted the claim in 2018, and the responsible state of North Rhine-Westphalia appealed to the Higher Administrative Court. In the case of the Belderberg, where according to the Cologne administrative court no diesel engines with Euro 4 and older as well as petrol engines of classes Euro 1 to 3 are allowed to drive any longer, the city is relying among other things on the increased use of low-emission buses in order to reduce the nitrogen oxide value there.
Original text: Lisa Inhoffen
Translation: Mareike Graepel
