German-French Excellence Award for Juliette Le Corguillé – diploma thesis on high-speed cycle path planning in Dresden

International diploma thesis on high-speed cycle path planning in Dresden met with great interest from representatives of the Saxon state capital

Cycling quickly through Dresden, from north to south, from east to west, into the surrounding areas and back again. Sounds easy - but it is far from being safe practice in the Saxon state capital. The north of Dresden in particular lacks a continuous, safe high-speed cycle route connection to the city centre and further south out of the city. Juliette Le Corguillé has scientifically investigated what this could look like and which alternative corridors exist from east to west besides the Elbe cycle path in her diploma thesis on the subject of "Creating a project basis for a cycling concept for Dresden and its areas around" at the TU Dresden. For her scientific work, she has now been awarded the Excellence Award of the Franco-German University Saarbrücken, endowed with 1,500 Euros.

Diploma thesis supervised at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences

The diploma thesis was supervised at the Chair of Road Planning and Road Design at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences. "Despite difficult pandemic conditions, Ms. Le Corguillé was able to finish her work in April 2020 with the rating 'very good' and we expressly encouraged and supported her to apply for the Excellence Prize," says the head of the professorship, Prof. Reinhard Koettnitz.

The "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences warmly congratulates Juliette Le Corguillé on this award!

Presentation of diploma thesis to Dresden city planners

An excellent presentation by Juliette Le Corguillé to Dresden city planners last year tipped the scales in favour of the application. "In her diploma thesis, Ms. Le Corguillé gave scientifically sound reasons for the highspeed cycle path connections she had found, compared them with each other and derived a preferred variant. She also used international comparisons for this purpose. The evaluation scheme she used for cycle path planning could also be used for political decisions on the subject," said Prof. Koettnitz. The representatives of the state capital showed great interest in the results of the diploma thesis and signalled that they would include them in Dresden's cycle path planning.

Participation in German-French double diploma programme

Juliette Le Corguillé was born and raised in France. She started her civil engineering studies at the École Spéciale des Travaux Publics, du Bâtiment et de l'Industrie (ESTP), Paris, and thus participated in a German-French double degree programme at the same time. She completed the 6th to 8th semester at the TU Dresden, Faculty of Civil Engineering. During this time, she also took part in courses at the "Friedrich List" Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, during which the topic of her diploma thesis developed. "Cycle high-speed lanes are not such a big issue in France, but they are in Germany and there is a lot of information about them." Juliette Le Corguillé also found the contact with Dresden's city planners interesting: "It was exciting to learn about the implementation of traffic planning in practice and who is involved in the administration.

She was made aware of the Excellence Award by the International Relations Manager of ESTP Paris, Bénédicte Mahé. The award honors professional and intercultural excellence in combination with outstanding degrees. Dipl.-Ing. Juliane Martin, supervisor of the diploma thesis and research associate at the Chair of Road Planning and Road Design, says: "Juliette Le Corguillé has demonstrated her intercultural and academic excellence in several areas. Due to her language skills, she was able to include significantly more international sources than usual and also underpin her proposals with versatile, international experience. The successful combination of scientific theory on cycling facilities with the application-oriented results should also be emphasised."

About the Excellence Award of the Franco-German University Saarbrücken (DFH):
The DFH's Prix d'Excellence is awarded to graduates of DFH-funded degree programmes who have demonstrated their professional and intercultural excellence through outstanding degrees or through special merits. They also pursue the goal of promoting exchange between the business community and young academics. The prizes are endowed with 1,500 Euros each and are sponsored by business actors and institutions from different sectors. The other prize winners are published on the website of the Franco-German University.