Parents divided over benefits of new Mamer bridge

(CS) The new fly-over in Mamer opened on Monday, but on the first day of school parents of European School II students had mixed views whether the bridge will help ease traffic in the area.

It was a busy scene at the European School II on Tuesday morning, with many parents dropping their children off for the first day of the new school year. Coming to the school shortly after 8am, traffic on the fly-over was moving slowly and with cars still arriving by 8.45am, there were tailbacks in direction of the capital.

Director Emmanuel de Tournemire commented to wort.lu/en: “It's a busy day, the first day of school. A lot of parents want to come by car. After two or three days more children will take public transport and there will be less cars. It was like that last year.

“I'm not really anxious,” he said about the traffic situation.

The one-way fly-over bridge between Bertrange and Mamer is meant to ease congestion by diverting traffic coming from the City centre directly to the campus. This means fewer cars at the “Tossebierg” roundabout. Heading into the capital, a bypass, which was installed last year, is meant to help move traffic along.

Not all parents were convinced, however. Mads Outzen told wort.lu/en: “I would say it's not a major improvement. It's going into the City that's the problem. It's not coming in [to the school]. I don't really understand all the money they spent,” he said.

The fact that the bridge only leads to the school from the City centre was also discussed among parents.

Daphne Remiens commented: “It's very good, but we must see what happens for the long term. The only thing I don't understand is why not do it in both directions.”

For others, meanwhile, the bridge had made a difference already. “Congratulations on opening the bridge. Thanks to the bridge our journey was better. Before it would take us 15 minutes to come to school. Today it took us seven minutes,” said Anna Santo-Chirico.

The nearby Lycée Technique Michel Lucius has yet to open its doors after the summer break and parents expect that this will have a big impact on traffic in the area. “I think it will be much busier when the Luxembourg schools go back and it will be much more representative,” said Sophie Svenningsen.

Added Lene Bay Larsen: “I would say the next two weeks we will see what happens.”