FGSV: New regulations prioritize cycling and walking traffic - and climate protection

The Forschungsgesellschaft für Straßen- und Verkehrswesen (FGSV) announced after the announcement of a paradigm shift in October the imminent completion of the first drafts and emphasizes a fundamental shift towards climate-friendly mobility. While previously all types of traffic were considered equally, pedestrian and bicycle traffic will now be prioritized in the design guidelines for urban streets. The FGSV is currently developing new regulations (RASt, EAR, ERA, EFA) within its committees, which will then be binding for municipalities in Germany as the state of the art for all planning processes. In addition to climate relevance, traffic safety and quality, especially for pedestrian and bicycle traffic including accessibility, are in focus. For example, bike paths, bike lanes, and protective lanes for bicycle traffic will have to be planned and implemented wider than before. Bike paths should then also be at least 2 meters wide instead of 1.60 meters. For rapid cycling routes, a width of 3 meters per direction is to be applied. Protective lanes on the roadway should no longer be 1.25 meters wide, but at least 1.50 meters wide and, if possible, even wider.

Parking: As little space as possible!

If parking in the street space cannot be avoided, safety buffer strips with a minimum width of 0.75 meters must be provided for all types of bicycle traffic guidance ‒ including bike lanes, protective lanes, and bicycle streets. This is intended to avoid so-called dooring accidents, in which cyclists collide with unexpectedly opened doors of parked vehicles. There will also be new recommendations (EAR) for parking spaces on streets: The principle is to plan as little space as possible for parking spaces. Instead, areas should be gained for green spaces, for retention and/or decentralized drainage with infiltration and/or for other environmentally friendly modes that can help to reduce the heating up of street spaces, outlines the FGSV. Parking spaces in the street space should still be at least two meters wide. However, municipalities have the option to design parking spaces wider to accommodate the increased number of wider cars. Some necessary changes to the regulations have already been addressed in the profiles of the “E Klima 2022 – Recommendations for the application and further development of FGSV publications in the traffic sector to achieve climate protection goals" in the fall of 2022 and anticipate regulations still being prepared.