District sets up six cycle traffic counting points
Since 2022, a state-wide network of permanent cycle traffic counting points has been established in Hesse. Hessen Mobil was the initiator and the districts, cities and municipalities are now also contributing to the expansion of the network. So far, over 450 counting points have been installed. The district of Waldeck-Frankenberg has also put six of the cycle traffic counting points into operation. The costs are around 13,500 euros per counting point. The district has received a state subsidy of 75 per cent of the construction costs via the local mobility guideline.
The counting points were installed at very different locations in Waldeck-Frankenberg. "Of course, we are particularly interested in how the newly built cycle paths, which are the responsibility of the district, are accepted by the population," says Karl-Friedrich Frese, First District Councillor and the department head responsible for local mobility. "We know that the Diemel cycle path is highly frequented - now we can also prove this with data."
Local mobility coordinator Nicole Sude gives an example: at the beginning of March, 425 journeys were recorded on the newly built cycle path between the state border with North Rhine-Westphalia and Diemelstadt-Orpethal on a Sunday when the weather was fine. "These are pleasingly high figures." The section of the Diemel cycle path along the K91 is also relevant for cyclists in everyday life, as there is no roadside cycle path on the B7 between Marsberg-Westheim and Warburg-Scherfede. The data for the Diemel cycle path, which has been certified with five ADFC stars, is also useful for tourism.
Ride data is now also available for the Twisteradweg, which has only recently been commercialised. Here, the counting station was installed near the Braunser Hammer on the cycle path along the K8; the journey data is recorded in an east-west direction. In 2025, the K50 district road between Ober-Ense and Immighausen was upgraded with a roadside footpath and cycle path and a cycle traffic counting station approximately halfway along the route. Another counting station is located on the K43 in the Kolbenmühle area near Bad Wildungen-Armsfeld (expansion project 2024). Cyclists are also counted on the Korbach-Adorf axis, just before Helmscheid on a farm track, and on the Wolfhagen-Bad Wildungen axis (R6) between Freienhagen and Selbach on a farm track.
Caption: The cycle traffic counters were installed by a specialist company. Here you can see the installation on the Diemel cycle path along the K91 near the Billinghausen estate. (Photo: Eco Counter GmbH)