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| Perchtoldsdorf Tower |
Perchtoldsdorf is an old town in the Austrian province of Lower Austria, characterized by a millennium of wine making and trying to keep invaders from Turkey out, nestled on the hills West of the large and fertile Vienna Basin.
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| vineyards of Perchtoldsdorf |
Today, Perchtoldsdorf, with 18,000 inhabitants, is one of the suburban towns forming a crescent to the South West of the Capital City of Austria, Vienna. This crescent is nicknamed "Speckgürtel" - "bacon belt" - for the wealth the inhabitants and business bring, while still keeping a focus on quality of life including Austria's famous "Gemütlichkeit" ("cosiness") and dedication to picturesque landscapes.
As with most suburbs worldwide, one of Perchtoldsdorf's challenges is providing quick access for the commuters to the big city of Vienna. Residents have the choice between an efficient and reliable commuter train that rides through on the Eastern part of town or the highway that runs outside of the city, beyond the Eastern part of town.
Busses provide access to the two major train stations, whereas a few arterial roads drain most of the automotive traffic to the highway, obviously clogging during rush hour. One of these automotive arteries crosses and bottle necks over a bridge spanning over the commuter rail line, which inconveniently separates the Western and smaller Eastern part of town. Christian Apl was always bothered by that bottle neck bridge.
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| Christian Apl riding down a main street, a major artery "draining" towards the highway |
Christian Apl is town council member of Perchtoldsdorf and in charge of Mobility and Sustainability. As a member of the Green Party, he has made his agenda to take measures against climate change.
In 2007, he saw the opportunity to broaden the bridge and losen the bottle neck. His goal was not to give fossil fuel powered cars the opportunity to drive quicker through town and over the bridge off to the highway, but rather to add on a generous pedestrian and bicycle path, keeping the car lanes width intact. Studies showed that widening the bridge and adding a bike and foot path, would reduce daily car trips by 2,000.
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| at car/bike/pedestrian round-about to bridge crossing rail road |
Finally almost ten years later, bridge inspections indicated the bridge was no longer structurally sound. This was the opportunity to propose to widen the bridge during a comprehensive structural renovation. City council accepted the proposal. The bridge was structurally renovated and widened to include a bike and foot path in 2018.
While initial cost estimates were off and the project went way over budget, to the dismay of many town council members, Christian Apl was able to tap into subsidies from provincial government and national climate grants to partially cover costs for the widening of the bridge to add a bike/foot lane.
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| View from bridge onto the train station and bike/foot paths (planned to be widened) to small industrial park |
Regardless of the costs, the new widened bridge definitely allows citizens to comfortably cross the bridge by foot, by bike, on stroller or wheel chair. This new infrastructure also lessens the divide between the East and West side of town; the 2,000 citizens who live East of the bridge now definitely have easy access to the commercial center, church and school on the West side of the bridge - and they can leave their car parked at home.
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| pedestrian on bridge walkway |
