Bayreuth city council stops renovation plans for Bismarckstrasse for the time being!

Bayreuth city council stops renovation plans for Bismarckstrasse for the time being!

The city of Bayreuth is facing an explosive decision. On September 17, 2025, the City Council's Main and Finance Committee announced that the renovation plans for Erlanger and Bismarckstrasse would be put on hold for the time being. This could make a planned referendum superfluous, even if the conversion itself is not completely ruled out. The citizens' petition that takes action against it has exceeded the required number of signatures and is on the home stretch to check the admissibility, as the courier reported.

Opponents of the conversion submitted over 5,000 signatures to City Hall on September 5, which is more than the required 3,400 signatures (at least 6% of the voting population). This means that the consultation phase in the committee becomes more intensive, particularly with regard to the validity and legal requirements of the signatures. The city council must now decide whether to recommend the citizens' initiative. A referendum would have to take place no later than three months after determining admissibility, but could also be extended to up to six months. This would give citizens the opportunity to decide on the controversial renovation plans, which would be equivalent to the result of a city council resolution if they vote in favor.

Controversial renovation plans

The background to the dispute is the measures planned by the city administration to redesign Bismarckstrasse and Erlangerstrasse. Among other things, the plans include narrowing the streets from two lanes to one and expanding bicycle paths. These measures are intended to ensure a safe and functioning transport system for all road users. However, critics warn of high costs of at least 4.7 million euros and fear traffic problems, while supporters cite traffic calming, greater safety and climate protection, such as the Bayreuther Tagblatt emphasized.

The question in the citizens' petition specifically aims to maintain the two-lane accessibility of the two streets. It is a clear signal from the population that they want to increasingly represent their own interests, which makes the citizens' initiative an important instrument of direct democracy, as well Local transport practice underlined. Such initiatives can also increase acceptance of numerous public infrastructure projects.

In addition, the city is currently not in a financial position to implement the renovation work this year or next. Realization could take place in 2027 at the earliest. So it remains to be seen what direction the city of Bayreuth will take and how the citizen information processes will be further designed. What is currently evident is that the decision on traffic routing is causing lively discussions and strong opinions among the population.