With the Frankfurt Environmental Prize, the Carl & Irene Scherrer Foundation wants to highlight and encourage environmental commitment for Frankfurt. The Frankfurt Environmental Prize, worth 2,000 euros, has been awarded since 1997. The Carl & Irene Scherrer Foundation is dedicated to promoting social and ecological commitment in the Frankfurt am Main region. It was founded in Frankfurt am Main in 1996 on the occasion of Carl Scherrer’s 75th birthday in recognition of his many years of work for environmental protection. The donor is his son Christoph.
dr Jutta Deffner says: “The Radentscheid Frankfurt has shown the extraordinary importance of civil society initiatives for the change in mobility culture. A consensus on the relevance of cycling was only achieved through the demands of the initiative. Urgent decisions have been made in city politics as a result of the cycling decision, new forms of cooperation have been created in the city administration and new ideas for the expansion of the bicycle infrastructure have been taken up. This is not only a huge success, but now enables a decision-making corridor in which further courageous and trend-setting decisions for the mobility transition are possible.”
“We are very pleased that the Scherrer Foundation recognizes our work in this way! In recent years, the Radentscheid has called for many concrete measures that have been implemented by the city of Frankfurt and has also extensively shaped the public debate about sustainable mobility in Frankfurt,” says Norbert Szép, founder of the Radentscheid Frankfurt. The Radentscheid will use the prize money to further finance its work for Frankfurt: for the purchase and rental of material, the organization of demonstrations and events, and much more.
In 2018, the Radentscheid collected almost 40,000 signatures in Frankfurt for a better bicycle infrastructure. At the end of a long dispute with the city administration and politicians, the city council decided in the summer of 2019 that almost all the demands of the cycling decision were heard. Since then, numerous measures have been implemented, such as the redesign of Friedberger Landstraße and Oeder Weg. In almost all cases, there was an intensive and critical public debate before implementation, but most people are more than satisfied after implementation.
After the Radentscheid decision is 3 years old this year, it is time for a continuation of the work program. Not all measures from the decision have been implemented yet, but the measures taken so far have shown that the people of Frankfurt are ready for a consistent turnaround in traffic. In addition to other individual measures, the cycling decision therefore calls for an overarching concept for the expansion of inner-city cycle routes, such as the Friedberger Landstraße – Walter-Kolb-Straße axis. The concept of the “Frankfurt bicycle streets” is to be consistently pursued; Grüneburgweg, Robert-Mayer-Straße, Kettenhofweg and other streets should now follow the Oeder Weg – maybe even Berger or Leipziger Straße. Intersections are to be redesigned according to the “SiGlinde” Radentscheid concept: safe, equal, lime green.
The presentation of the Frankfurt Environment Prize shows the influence of the Radentscheid on traffic policy in Frankfurt; the prize money will secure the further work of the initiative over the next few years. The Radentscheid is very grateful to the Scherrer Foundation for this honor and support and will continue to do its utmost to make Frankfurt a cycling city.
Information on the Carl & Irene Scherrer Foundation
https://www.scherrer-stiftung.de/
Information on the Eurobike website
https://www.eurobike.com/de/event-detail/959
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