The cities in the Rhine-Main metropolitan area have too much nitrogen dioxide in the air, criticized the German Environment Aid (DUH) and sued the country for air pollution control.
Offenbach – Offenbach is also one of the municipalities in which the limit value of 40 micrograms of NO2 per cubic meter is exceeded at various points.
Now there is also a date for the trial before the Administrative Court in Kassel: on September 14, a decision should be made as to whether the measures submitted for air pollution control are sufficient for Offenbach. So it is fitting that the city and country will present the third update of the clean air plan next week.
When considerations for reducing pollution were presented almost a year ago, there was great horror: Among other things, there was talk of janitorial lights, truck bans and the transfer of heavy traffic to neighboring municipalities. The new air improvement plans presented by the city suddenly start to read much milder: it is now said that the limit values could be met even without bans on driving through.
According to new calculations, the green Ministry of the Environment found that the limit values could be reduced to the required level without too drastic means. Planning head Paul-Gerhard Weiß and head of the environmental department Heike Hollerbach emphasize that these calculations are extremely strict and conservative. “We were skeptical ourselves whether we could meet the limit values,” says Weiß.
The basis for maintaining nitrogen oxide levels is a whole range of measures, some of which are already known. This includes the controversial electrification of the bus fleet as well as the no less skeptical acceptance of the designation of bicycle routes in the city.
Otherwise, the main focus is on improving the flow of traffic in order to avoid harmful emissions. Traffic lights will be renewed and reprogrammed for just under eight million euros to create “green waves”. For Kaiserstrasse, Waldstrasse in the inner city area and Mainstrasse – at these points the NO2 values have so far been above the permitted level – the city uses Tempo 40 areas: calculations by the Ministry of the Environment have shown that at 40 Tempo the pollutant values are lower than around 30 or 50.
In order to ensure the flow of traffic at 40 km / h, the respective intersections and access roads must of course also be adapted to this – it can therefore be assumed that this speed will be mandatory in large parts of the city in the future. Traffic lights are therefore also possible, but Hollerbach emphasizes that this will be dispensed with if the desired traffic liquefaction can be achieved in another way.
White people like Hollerbach attach great importance to the fact that only the mix of different projects will reduce the values according to the calculation. “It is a serious, very conservative calculation, not a self-made defense,” says Weiß. The city is convinced that this will convince the court. After a positive decision, the measures would be implemented this year.
If the court is not convinced, a truck passage ban is prepared, which would then be implemented. Last year, the surrounding municipalities were not very enthusiastic about the prospect that traffic would be shifted to their urban area. “But the tone has changed noticeably since there was a joint appointment with the ministry,” says Weiß. It had been shown that a passage ban would lead to a little more traffic in the neighboring municipalities, but not so much that the air would become significantly worse.
“Evidence of the effectiveness of the measures will be available in 2021,” says Hollerbach. Then the measured values have to show that especially in the Lower Border Road, the Main, Wald and Kaiser streets, the nitrogen oxide values not only remain below 40 micrograms on paper.
By Frank Sommer
–
