Success for German ECF member ADFC: For the first time in history, the government has included cycle highways in the new Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan adopted on 3 August 2016. The plan, which is going to be the central document for national level transport infrastructure planning in Germany until 2030, now addresses cycling besides investments in road, rail and inland waterway infrastructure.

The earlier drafts of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan were criticised in Germany amongst others by the Federal Environmental Agency for their bias towards road infrastructure for cars and their failure to meet Germany’s CO₂ emission reduction targets. It seems that with the final version adopted today, the federal government has made some corrections in the right direction, at least when cycling is concerned.

The decisive passage, stating that the federal level is going to make a bigger contribution to the construction of cycle highways in the future, was not included in the first drafts of the document. The fact that it was added just before the adoption of the plan is without any doubt a success for ECF’s German member association Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrradclub (ADFC), which had run an intensive advocacy campaign at all levels during the last months, including, amongst others, a debate with federal parliamentarians, state secretaries and state ministers in Berlin in May, and an online petition started by ADFC’s local chapter in Duisburg.

According to ADFC, cycle highways have a high potential to attract commuters to use their bike more often in Germany. For example, the most advanced project in Germany, the Ruhr Cycle Highway (Radschnellweg Ruhr) could avoid 52 000 car trips, or 400 000 car kilometres, per day. The organisation hopes that with the stronger commitment of the federal government, Germany can follow the examples of the Netherlands and Flanders, where fast cycling routes (“Snelfietsroutes” in Dutch and “Fietsostrades” in Flemish) have been offering an attractive alternative for car commuters for several years already. Besides the partially completed Ruhr Cycle Highway, plans for fast cycling routes exist in the metropolitan regions of Hanover, Frankfurt, Nuremberg and Munich.

This short passage in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan is a big step for the future of cycling in Germany. We are delighted that the Federal Minister for Transport has understood that premium cycling infrastructure, as we know it already for a long time from the Netherlands and Flanders, really can bring about significant congestion relief."

Burkhard Stork, Federal Director ADFC

See also:

• ADFC press release (in German)
• ECF's work on fast cycling routes
• CHIPS: An INTERREG North-West Europe project on the development and promotion of cycle highways