“Generally 30” in residential areas! And that also on the main roads. That is what the city association wants. As the “NZZ am Sonntag” announced, it is not only the major cities of Basel, Zurich and Winterthur that are trying to limit the speed to 30 kilometers per hour. Rural communities are also increasingly slowing down their ways, she writes.
Speed limit 50 passed
In Switzerland, “Algemeen 50” still applies in built-up areas. If a municipality wants to change this, it will look at the individual case. From the point of view of the Association of Cities, this is old-fashioned.
If it were up to the association, which 129 cities and municipalities from Aarau to Zug have joined, the speed limit in residential areas should now normally be 30 kilometers per hour – and not just on side roads.
Important for development
The liberal mayor of Frauenfeld, Anders Stokholm (56), explains this in the Sunday newspaper as follows: “The paradigm shift is necessary because more and more people live and work along the transport axes.” For the president of the association, traffic noise is a double problem: it causes damage to health and also prevents development in urban areas: “Many projects are blocked due to noise concerns,” explains Stapi from eastern Switzerland.
It is therefore no longer enough to limit yourself to a speed limit that only applies to residential and rural areas: “If we want to combat noise, we have to do it at the source – and that is largely traffic-oriented streets”. , he emphasizes in the “NZZ am Sonntag”. So far, traffic has been given more weight there than living and working. “That has to change,” said the mayor.
half the sound
According to a study by the federal government and the city of Zurich, reducing the speed from 50 to 30 kilometers per hour reduces noise levels by three decibels – which feels like halving traffic noise.
There is resistance from the traders: “This is an SME-hostile proposal,” says trade director Hans-Ulrich Bigler (64). And also the TCS is critical in the article. (pt)