Court order brings 30 km/h back to Munich's Mittlerer Ring

Until the dispute over the speed limit is decided in the main proceedings, Munich must temporarily re-impose a 30 km/h speed limit on a roughly 2.5-kilometer section of the Mittlerer Ring. The Administrative Court of Munich ordered this in summary proceedings after the city had only returned to 50 km/h on Landshuter Allee in January. The city had introduced a 30 km/h limit there in June 2024 to avoid having to extend the existing environmental zone to vehicles with emission standard 5.

Repeal after expert opinion

The speed limit had been introduced to reduce levels of harmful nitrogen oxides on the road. After the annual average value for nitrogen dioxide was 38 micrograms per cubic meter last year, two micrograms below the limit, and an expert report commissioned by the city predicted "clear compliance with the limit" in the event of a return to 50 km/h, Munich's Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) had the restriction lifted again.

The court granted a summary application by two residents, citing their health among other reasons, and found that the city's justification for the repeal was not sufficiently comprehensible or reliable. After years of exceeding the limit, the city must implement measures to protect health that reliably ensure a clear and sustainable undershooting of the limit.

According to the court, the summary application by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has not yet been decided due to additional legal questions. In mid-January, the DUH had announced legal action because the repeal "constitutes a blatant violation of the air quality plan, which the city had to tighten in 2024 due to excessive levels of the diesel exhaust pollutant nitrogen dioxide, following their successful lawsuit."

(fpi)