Topics included the presentation of the planned traffic authority and traffic regulation measures, which are currently still awaiting a decision from the Lower Saxony Ministry of Transport, as well as the presentation of different variants of bypasses, to which the Pro Sal citizens' initiative also contributed a variant. The expansion of parallel routes for cyclists and pedestrians was also discussed.
The three topics were discussed constructively, lively and controversially with all the guests in the room.
Head of department Wolfram Skorczyk from the city of Salzgitter first presented the planned and quickly implementable traffic authority and traffic regulation measures, some of which still have to be decided on by the ministry. There are plans to set up a continuous 30 km/h zone in Museumsstraße and a ban on trucks over 7.5 tons. According to Skorczyk, the redesign of the Mindener Straße junction, which is to be decided by the city of Salzgitter's committees, has also been postponed for the time being, as the ideas from this second citizens' dialog are to be incorporated.
Thomas Müller from Hannover Ingenieurbüro Schubert presented the results of the new traffic count in the district, which was requested at the previous meeting in Salder and carried out on May 24, 2016. His conclusion: "The counting results from 2012 have essentially been confirmed." Of the 427 heavy vehicles recorded on Museumstraße, around 200 HGVs weighing more than 7.5 tons were counted. Otherwise, the large vehicles would have been buses, agricultural vehicles and trucks weighing less than 7.5 tons. On Mindener Straße and Gerichtsweg, only a low level of truck traffic was recorded.
Head of department Bernd Waldmann and Jens Schacht from the urban planning, environment and monument protection department then presented various planning options for possible bypasses. Councillor Michael Tacke had previously made it clear that the variants presented were not fixed designs, but only suggestions. The traffic calculations had shown that the design of a relief road from the L 472 to the K 10 was the most favorable traffic routing, explained Schacht. It would be possible to set up four traffic circles on the route and the flood plain of the Fuhse could be crossed by building a bridge.
Klaus Kreisel from the Pro Sal citizens' initiative presented the initiative's own version at the citizens' dialog. It proposes using the relief effect of the north-south road, closing Watenstedter Weg and only allowing agricultural vehicles to use it, as well as banning HGVs from using Museumstraße and only allowing them to drive at 30 kilometers per hour.
The representatives of the council parties present agreed to discuss the provision of funding for a feasibility study for the construction of a bypass as part of future budget discussions in order to obtain reliable results of the stress and strain of such a road and to make them part of further considerations.
"It must be noted here that there is no right or wrong with the variants," emphasized Michael Tacke. "Relief in one place always results in burdens in other areas. This has to be weighed up". The administration would also examine proposals from Pro Sal and subject them to a simulation study and assess how much relief this proposal would provide. But here, too, the prerequisite for construction is the approval of the state.
Anke Karmann from the City of Salzgitter's Civil Engineering and Transport Department then gave a detailed presentation on the possible expansion of footpaths and cycle paths in Salder as well as the current status of the expansion plans for Museumsstraße and the Museumsstraße/Mindener Straße junction.