Salzgitter's city planning officer Michael Tacke welcomed the participants to the workshop and summarized the progress of the project to date in order to give the participants an overview of the current planning status.
Roland Böttcher, the representative of the Greater Braunschweig regional association in charge of the project, gave a general overview of the topic of high-speed cycle connections in Germany. He warned against comparing cycle highways with freeways. It is not about the speed of the cyclists, but about the travel time. This requires high-quality cycle paths. If the travel time from door to door by bike on close connections was almost as short as by car, then the traffic turnaround could succeed. He backed this up with various practical examples, including one from Wolfsburg.
Project manager Thomas Pfeiffer and his team from Braunschweig-based engineering firm BPR explained the three remaining main options and the approach used to select them. After more than 300 ideas, suggestions and comments from the first round of public participation were submitted to the planners in spring 2025, the planning office had been evaluating the route proposals received since the fall. It was faced with the challenge of sifting through the large number of proposals received, which far exceeded the expected number, and evaluating them in a comprehensible and transparent planning and selection process according to environmental and traffic criteria, among others.
The workshop participants then discussed the main options at several dialog stations, provided information on local conditions and jointly considered what a possible implementation could look like. Key points included the topics of road safety and junction design, such as the crossing of the B 248 in the Friedrichshöhe area near Thiede. The aim of the workshop was to prepare the selection of the preferred option together with the citizens.
Sebastian Vogt from the city of Salzgitter concluded by giving an outlook on the upcoming work phase to develop the final preferred option. It is to be presented at a central public information meeting in winter. It is then planned to submit it to the relevant political bodies of the cities of Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfenbüttel for consultation and approval.
The citizens' workshop in Braunschweig will take place on June 23 at 6 p.m. at the Raabeschule secondary school in Braunschweig-Stöckheim. To ensure that this workshop is not disadvantaged, the detailed planning documents will only be made available online from June 23 at https://www.regionalverband-braunschweig.de/rsv_sued/ on the website of the Greater Braunschweig Regional Association.
Background:
The cities of Braunschweig, Salzgitter and Wolfenbüttel are planning a high-speed cycle link between the participating municipalities of Braunschweig, Wolfenbüttel and Salzgitter with the help of the Greater Braunschweig Regional Association.
High-speed cycle connections are a contribution to the traffic turnaround and climate protection. They reduce travel times by bike or pedelec to less than or equal to those by car. To this end, the high-speed cycle connections are built in such a way that time lost due to stopping at traffic junctions, slow journeys due to insufficient road widths, poor road surfaces and gradients are avoided. The first workshop in Salzgitter took place in February 2025.