A new idea for Alt-Urfahr: Residents develop district concept

Tips meets Paul Peters and Judith Kinzl on a hot August day at the Donauwirtinnen. To the left of it is the VS14 Weberschule, towards the Danube there is a playground behind a garbage island, towards Rudolfstraße the Webergasse leads steeply uphill past the kindergarten.

A village square for Alt-Urfahr

“It already feels like a village square here,” they say, referring to the potential for improvement. Paul grew up in Alt-Urfahr, and as a child he walked in the middle of the street. That’s how people learned to do it back then because the street belonged to the children. Today, he thinks that would be too dangerous for his two children of primary school age.

Judith has a small child, and as she strolls past the Weber kindergarten with tips, she explains: “When we registered, we were told that the outdoor playground opposite is hardly used, it is too dangerous with small children.” The reason: The cyclists roll downhill at breakneck speed, the cars race uphill through the street.

Solution-oriented residents

But the residents are not interested in complaining, but in finding solutions. Six Alt-Urfahran residents have therefore sat down at a table and developed new approaches, and architect Judith has put the whole thing into picture form.

Key points: The Webergasse/Zellerstraße intersection should be traffic-calmed, more visible and become a meeting zone. Green circles on the ground should signal that people are in a traffic-calmed area. Graz has a similar concept with yellow dots. As far as the school is concerned, the main entrance is planned to be moved towards Webergasse.

Green islands, wider sidewalks

Shortly before Webergasse crosses Rudolfstrasse, the street becomes wider – the idea here would be to create two green islands as protection from the heat, and this could also be a meeting point for residents. There should then be a safe crossing point for cyclists over Rudolfstrasse.

At the corner of the Damascus supermarket, turning into Landgutstrasse, the narrow sidewalk is to be widened so that pedestrians can reach the Mühlkreis train station safely and quickly.

Use the opening of the Westring Bridge for Alt-Urfahr

Apparently, the idea also means that parking spaces are no longer available: when you look at the site, you can mainly see license plates from the surrounding communities. With the opening of the Westring Bridge, residents expect politicians to take further measures to calm traffic in Alt-Urfahr (Obere Donaustraße became a fairness zone in June 2023). The concept proposal is to be implemented in several stages.

Councillor Brandstetter: Make the route to school safer

Support for the idea comes from local councillor Clemens Brandstetter: For years, residents around Rudolfstrasse have been promised that the Westring would bring relief. Now it is time to keep this promise: “The Alt-Urfahr village square marks the beginning of change around Rudolfstrasse.” “The residents deserve relief from the noise and dirt,” he says.

Furthermore, Brandstetter believes it is important to emphasise that this could create an attractive passage for gentle mobility between the Landgutstrasse traffic junction and the Donaustrand recreation area and that the route to school will also become safer for many children.