Stuttgart (dpa / lsw) – The air in Baden-Württemberg’s cities has improved significantly in the past year. Only in Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg was the limit value for nitrogen dioxide pollution exceeded on individual road sections with a total length of almost 800 meters, as the Ministry of Transport announced on Friday. In 2019, the limit was broken in four cities, in 2017 there were 18 affected municipalities.
Head of department Winfried Hermann (Greens) gave various reasons for the decline. That’s what he called speed limits, filter columns, the expansion of local transport and driving bans for old diesel vehicles, which only exist in Stuttgart. The particularly strong decreases in air pollutants are partly due to less traffic due to the corona pandemic. However, the Green politician strictly rejected an end to the driving bans in Stuttgart. “In order to permanently adhere to the limit values, the measures also have to be persevered.”
The permissible limit value for pollution with nitrogen dioxide is 40 micrograms per cubic meter of air for the annual mean. For the first time since 2010, the Neckartor in Stuttgart complied with the EU limit values for nitrogen dioxide. Here there was a decrease in NO2 concentrations of 28 percent from 53 to 38 micrograms compared to the previous year, as the ministry announced. A 30 percent decrease in traffic last year compared to 2015 – the year before a court settlement with local residents contributed to this. In the state capital, there are only a few exceeding limits in Pragstrasse and Talstrasse.
In Ludwigsburg on Schlossstrasse, the only other limit value exceeded in sections with 47 micrograms.
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