Linz city center

Baker Brandl resists one-way traffic regulations

Master baker Franz Brandl hopes that he can continue to keep his business under control(Bild: Christoph Gantner)

Master baker Franz Brandl does not want to watch his life's work falter. The planned pedestrian zone in the southern Landstraße would turn Bismarckstraße, where his flagship store is located, into a dead end. 21 businesses are opposing the plan, fearing that customers will move away. Brandl has already collected around a thousand signatures against the imposition of the cul-de-sac.

His brioche buttons have made generations of Linzers addicted to them, but premium baker Franz Brandl is currently worried about the continued existence of his 132-year-old company. As is well known, the southern Landstraße is to become a pedestrian zone. This would turn Bismarckstraße, where Brandl's bakery is located, into a dead end. Customers would be able to access the street, but would have to turn around at the Surace ice cream parlor to get back onto Humboldtstraße.

Fear of huge crumbs
Brandl fears that this solution will result in huge crumbs, in plain language he is afraid that it will take the butter off his bread. "We already had a construction site in Bismarckstrasse for two or three months. Back then, we lost more than 30 percent of our sales. We can't keep that up in the long term, I still have to pay the staff," says Brandl. He therefore launched a petition around three weeks ago entitled "Bismarckstraße should remain a one-way street in its current form!" and has already collected around a thousand signatures.

1.5 million invested in operations
"21 business people in our street are against the one-way regulation. Including the bike store and the knife sharpening shop. And even my neighbor, even though she is a member of the Green Party," says Brandl, who has invested 1.5 million euros in his business in recent years.

In city politics, the cards were reshuffled in the election, and City Councillor for Economic Affairs Thomas Gegenhuber (SPÖ) wants to take a close look at the situation.