Construction work for Veloroute 5 to Andersen begins in Hanover
A good one and a half years later than originally planned, work on the first construction phase of Veloroute 5 has begun. It leads from the city center to Andersen and is also the route for the cycle expressway between Hanover and Lehrte. In the neighboring town, however, there is still a lack of detailed planning because the council only recently decided on the exact route.
The first construction phase leads to the Eisteichweg
The cycle route is to cross Berliner Allee from the City-Radring via the Gutenberghof and then in the first construction phase through Kestnerstrasse, Stadtstrasse, Bultstrasse, Kleefelder Strasse, Stadtparkweg, Senator-Bauer-Strasse, Kleefelder Sonnenweg, Am Annateich and through the Herman-Löns- Park to the Eisteichweg in Anderten. Section two will then be the route to the city limits between Hanover and Lehrte. At the end of January, the city had to introduce a ban on parking cars on Kleefelder Strasse following a court ruling.
Cobblestones have had their day
Mayor Belit Onay started the ground-breaking ceremony on Stadtstrasse in the southern part of the city. There is a major overhaul going on there. The city is replacing the cobblestones and removing them with a layer of asphalt. She is also redesigning the sidewalks and equipping the intersection with Kestnerstrasse with a traffic light system.
When the work is finished as scheduled in September, cyclists will ride on the 5.80 meter wide lane. “The asphalting will create significantly better conditions here. Overall, all road users benefit,” said Onay.
Further measures later this year
The city is planning further work on the route in the current year. They will rehabilitate road surfaces on Kestnerstrasse and Am Annateich. She is having the Am Annateich cycle path extended to the east with a new building. She will also have the section between the railway bridge and the Eisteichweg asphalted. It is currently only equipped with a water-bound cover, which often turns into a mud track when the weather is right. Overall, the first construction phase should be completed by the end of 2023.
The cost is 4.2 million euros
The costs for the first part, around seven kilometers long, run to 4.2 million euros, with the city expecting support from the state. The delays in the start of construction resulted from the fact that the city had meanwhile been rebuffed with corresponding applications for the following reasons.
According to City Hall spokeswoman Michaela Steigerwald, the state has now received a funding decision from the “Sustainable mobility and improvement of air pollution control in the city of Hanover” program. In theory, the state could cover the costs in full, but according to the city administration, not all individual measures are included as eligible. Because it has not yet been determined which ones these are, the exact amount of the subsidy remains open at the moment.
By Bernd Hase