Zurich wants to ban cars from Sihlstrasse and limit Uraniastrasse to 30 km/h

The city center is to be redesigned for cyclists and pedestrians. A “multi-purpose lane” is planned, which has already caused confusion in the past.

Uraniastrasse in the city centre: Here the city is planning a new traffic regime.

Simon Tanner / NZZ

Uraniastrasse and Sihlstrasse are main traffic arteries. The large one-way streets have multiple lanes and run at a speed limit of 50 km/h through Zurich’s city center.

In the future, these axes are to disappear or be massively reduced in size, as the Tamedia newspapers report. They base their statement on documents from the Civil Engineering Office.

The idea of ​​overhauling the traffic regime in the city has been floating around since 2008. Now the responsible city councillor Simone Brander (SP) has come up with new plans.

Uraniastrasse, where cars currently come from the Rudolf Brun Bridge in two or three lanes, will soon become narrower. In future, two-way traffic will be allowed on one lane each. The city also wants to reduce the speed limit from 50 to 30.

The square is intended to benefit pedestrians and cyclists. The city wants to install a so-called multi-purpose strip for this purpose. A two-meter-wide colored strip in the middle of Uraniastrasse will ensure that pedestrians can cross the street at any point along a length of 400 meters.

There would only be three pedestrian crossings on Uraniastrasse, those on both sides of Bahnhofstrasse and the one at Jelmoli. A 1.6-metre-wide strip is planned for cyclists on both sides of the road.

In the future, cars will no longer be allowed on a section of Sihlstrasse, where traffic currently moves in two lanes towards the Limmat. The city is planning to completely transform an area into a pedestrian zone.

A meeting zone with a speed limit of 20 km/h is also to be created on Löwenstrasse. This means that only two lanes would be open to drivers in the perimeter, one in each direction. In addition, 20 white parking spaces would be eliminated and over 100 new bicycle parking spaces would be created. Trees are also to be planted.

Who has the say in Zurich, the city or the canton?

Simone Brander’s plans to redesign the traffic regime in the city are unlikely to be easy. The canton will want to have a say, particularly when it comes to lane reduction. The so-called anti-congestion article in the canton’s constitution prohibits capacity reduction on inter-municipal roads. This article was approved by voters in the canton of Zurich in 2017. It prohibits a reduction in performance on state roads; If road capacity is reduced here, this must be compensated for in the surrounding road network.

It is already evident today that when the number of lanes on Sihlstrasse is reduced due to construction work, traffic jams occur. If Sihlstrasse were to be closed to cars in the future, they would have to drive via Uraniastrasse. However, with the new regime, this would only be accessible in one lane.

The canton has opposed similar plans by the city several times in the past, for example when it wanted to remove lanes on Bellerivestrasse or introduce a 30 km/h speed limit on Rosengartenstrasse. In both cases, the city again took legal action against the negative decision. It lost before the appeals department of the cantonal security directorate under government councilor Mario Fehr (independent), but it is taking the cases to the administrative court.

So how are the latest plans supposed to be possible?

When asked by the NZZ, the civil engineering department did not provide any more detailed information. The project is currently still at an early stage. The public release is currently being prepared: “The plans may still change by then,” says a spokesperson.

Clarifications are also underway with the numerous parties involved in the project. A date is also being sought for an information event with representatives of the business community and local associations in order to inform them about the project before the plans are published.

The city cannot say at this point when this will happen. It expects implementation by 2030.

Brander himself was against multi-purpose strips

The planned multi-purpose lane on Uraniastrasse also has some potential for conflict. A similar traffic regime has been observed on Nordstrasse in Wipkingen since 2021.

Pedestrians are allowed to cross the street wherever they want, but they do not have the right of way. There are no zebra crossings for safe crossing. Pedestrians are instructed to stop, wait for a gap in the traffic or make eye contact with the drivers. The strip in the middle is to be used as a stopover.

The multi-purpose lane on Nordstrasse has caused irritation in the past.

PD

Strange and sometimes dangerous situations keep occurring on Nordstrasse, as an on-site inspection at the time showed. Many road users were left feeling helpless.

Nevertheless, the city has permanently introduced the multi-purpose lane on Nordstrasse in 2023. In a survey, half of those surveyed rated the regime as good or very good, the city announced at the time. However, only 30 people took part in the survey. It was therefore not representative.

Politicians are also skeptical about the multi-purpose lanes. As a municipal councilor, current city councilor Simone Brander herself submitted a motion in 2022 that speaks out against further such projects with “wide crossings”. These would pose a potential danger for children or people with disabilities.

Dominique Zygmont, the managing director of the Zurich City Association, is critical of the plans. He believes that a multi-purpose lane on Uraniastrasse is the wrong solution. The frequency of all road users is very high there. A new mix would not make the area safer.

Zygmont wants to comment on the rest of the plans when they are available. A meeting with the city was planned before the summer, but it never happened: “We are confused by the process of the plans being made public now,” says Zygmont. We now need to find out what the city is actually going to put in place.