There will be no driving ban for older diesel vehicles in Wuppertal. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and German Environmental Aid agreed on this.
After numerous cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Wuppertal is also getting around an impending driving ban for, among other things, older diesel vehicles. However, in the fight against high nitrogen dioxide levels, the city in the Bergisches Land must introduce traffic-dependent traffic light switches at some main pollution points, which are intended to reduce vehicle flows on the heavily polluted routes.
Briller Straße, Gathe, Haeseler Straße, Steinweg and Westkotter Straße are affected. The measures are being accompanied in some areas by reducing the speed to speeds of 40 and 30. On two roads, there should be a ban on the passage of trucks with more than 3.5 tons. The state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the German Environment Aid (DUH) agreed on this, as the Higher Administrative Court (OVG) announced after a conciliation procedure in Münster on Friday.
Improvement in public transport planned
In Wuppertal there are also plans to improve local transport, retrofit the city’s vehicle fleet and expand the cycle path network. According to the OVG, the agreed package of measures is intended to “largely avoid starting or accelerating motorized traffic, especially on incline routes”.
“The agreement announced today on air pollution control planning in Wuppertal is another important success for North Rhine-Westphalia, because our goal is to ensure that the nitrogen dioxide limit for the annual average of 40 micrograms per cubic meter is applied to everyone with effective air pollution control measures and without driving bans Measurement sites in North Rhine-Westphalia will be complied with promptly, “said Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) according to the announcement.
“Fewer cars, more buses, trains and bicycles”
“We are pleased to have agreed a detailed package of measures for a real turnaround in traffic for the eleventh city in North Rhine-Westphalia, with significantly fewer cars, but more buses, trains and bicycles,” said Jürgen Resch, DUH federal manager, in a statement . He praised Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser (CDU) and Wuppertal Mayor Andreas Mucke, who would have contributed constructively to a blueprint for a clean Wuppertal in the three-month negotiations.
Driving bans for older diesel vehicles threaten if the annual average nitrogen dioxide (NO2) value of 40 micrograms per cubic meter is exceeded at the measuring points. The district governments draw up air quality plans to achieve this goal. The measures ordered often do not go far enough for the DUH.
Agreements in other NRW cities
In the past few months, the country and environmental aid had already agreed on numerous arbitrations. These included the cities of Essen, Dortmund, Bielefeld, Hagen, Bonn and Düren. There are speeds of 30 km / h on certain routes and environmental tracks and access regulations have been introduced.
A revision of the state of Cologne and Aachen is still pending at the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig. According to the court, it is still unclear whether there will be comparative negotiations on the air quality plan for Düsseldorf at the OVG.
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