The German federal government will be investing 900 million Euro in cycling as part of its national climate protection programme. The largest part will be funded through a 660 million EUR heavy “City and Country-side” ("Stadt und Land”) call, which was officially published on 25 January by the Federal Ministry of Transportation. The investments in both urban and rural infrastructure are intended to help unleash the potential of cycling for climate-friendly transportation across the country.

The new investment comes on top of other existing budget lines, including 170 million EUR for cycle highways, 46 million EUR for the national cycle tourism route network, Radnetz Deutschland, as well as 126 million euros for innovative cycling projects. According to ECF’s member, ADFC, this will triple central government investments compared to previous years, bringing total investments to close to 1.5 billion EUR for the years 2020 – 2023. Or 4.5 EUR per person annually.

The Federal Ministry of Transportation is setting a number of quantitative targets on what this money should be spent on: 272 kilometers of physically separated bicycle paths, 672 kilometers of bike lanes, 416 kilometers of bicycle streets, 55 structures such as bike lane bridges and underpasses, 167,200 bike racks at bus stops, 24,800 bike boxes, 31,200 parking spaces in bike parking garages, 179 separated traffic light phases, and 4,880 lighting installations on bike lanes.

While the new funds were strongly welcomed by ADFC as a huge step forward, the association at the same time heavily criticized the ‘construction’ of 672 kilometers of bike lanes, which are effectively painted markings on the road surface, as ‘not bicycle-friendly’ and ‘backwards-looking’.

In order to effectively unlock the money, ADFC calls upon municipalities and the federal states to quickly submit relevant project applications such as for the construction of separated bike paths.

Austria and Ireland are two other recent, prominent examples of countries that have seen a big increase in central government funding for cycling.

Source: ADFC - Neuigkeit