Cyclists will be able to travel along the east side of the North Willems Canal to and from De Wijert in Groningen from Monday. For a week, only the Verlengde Hereweg and the Paterswoldseweg threatened to remain as north/south routes. Against the promises.
Groningen politicians rallied, with GroenLinks council member Benni Leemhuis leading the way. He did not accept that the work on the southern ring road would cause cyclists to detour so far, and wanted to deposit questions about the situation with B & W. Support soon came from SP, CDA and Student & Stad.
Brailleweg half for cyclists, half for cars
The project organization Aanpak Ringweg Zuid was immediately upset with the bicycle restrictions when announcing it. In consultation with the municipality, it was decided within a week to convert half of the Brailleweg along the canal into a cycle path (lengthwise, of course). Until Monday morning six o’clock, the road for moving it – to a bit closer to the canal – will be closed to all traffic.
The Brailleweg runs parallel under the Emmaviaduct and then bends under the road towards Vondellaan in De Wijert. The ‘halving’ of this road for the benefit of cyclists does have direct consequences for car traffic from both directions.
After all, that is dependent on the other, remaining lane. Motorized traffic has to take turns crossing it, traffic controllers and later traffic lights steer it in the right direction. Motorists are advised by the ring road developers to take a different route: one via the Hereweg or western ring road.
But what about east/west?
In this way, the question of advice remains limited to a concept. “Of course I am happy with that”, says Leemhuis. But in addition to north/south you also have east/west, and that connection problem is still there. “Together with the aforementioned factions and those of D66, Party for the Animals and PvdA, we are looking at whether and how we will raise the alarm about this.”
This mainly concerns the Muntingbrug, the bicycle bridge over the canal, as a connection between the Paterswoldseweg and the Brailleweg. It has been out for a long time, partly due to problems in the operating system. Leemhuis: ,,We still want to see whether a solution is possible there. Because now we have to cycle far.”