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Acceleration of traffic projects takes the next hurdle - charging infrastructure should also benefit.

Accelerating planning processes in transportation, that is the goal of a law by the traffic light coalition government, which has now been confirmed by the Bundestag. In addition to rail, it also involves 138 highway projects, which has caused criticism. After all, charging infrastructure is also supposed to be built faster – and bike paths on federal roads.

Lost in a Forest of Signs: The construction of traffic projects in Germany has been too slow for the Minister of Transport so far. This is now supposed to change. | Symbolic image: Pixabay
Lost in a Forest of Signs: The construction of traffic projects in Germany has been too slow for the Minister of Transport so far. This is now supposed to change. | Symbolic image: Pixabay
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Johannes Reichel
von Nadine Bradl

With the draft law presented by Federal Minister of Transport Volker Wissing (FDP), planning and approval procedures in traffic are to be significantly accelerated. A modern infrastructure is the best prerequisite for economic prosperity and growth. Therefore, planning and approval procedures will be simplified, streamlined, and digitized to ensure more speed and efficiency in the expansion and renewal of the transport infrastructure, Wissing promoted. The agreement was reached unexpectedly quickly after the elections in Bavaria and Hesse. The Greens also support the decision, pointing to the success of implementing 312 rail projects with a total length of 4,500 kilometers and a volume of 45 billion euros. This is an important signal, one of the largest investments of the time, promoted Greens' co-parliamentary group leader Britta Hasselmann for the traffic light compromise. However, at the same time, 138 highway projects will also be treated with accelerated procedures, which are said to be of "overriding public interest," half of them in NRW, the others in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Bremen, Hesse, Lower Saxony, and Rhineland-Palatinate.

Almost simultaneously, a new toll law with an almost doubling of toll rates for trucks as well as a moderate reform of the Road Traffic Act (StVG) and the Road Traffic Regulations (StVO) was also passed. The Greens also emphasize the positives here, as in addition to priorities on safety and fluidity of traffic, environmental, climate, and health protection, as well as "urban development," now take precedence. The "sole priority rules for car traffic" are therefore "a thing of the past," according to the Greens' parliamentary group. The German Association of Cities and transport experts had described the proposals as important but not sufficient to give municipalities more leeway in the traffic turnaround, for example on the topic of "comprehensive 30 km/h zones." 

In the acceleration of planning, a so-called "overriding public interest" is only determined for selected transport infrastructure projects in the areas of rail and road. This also includes the construction and operation of fast-charging infrastructure. These projects should be implemented much faster in the future, the Minister continued. In addition, simplifications are being made for the urgently needed renewal of numerous bridges, Wissing said. In the future, these can be renewed without any further approval procedure and without an environmental impact assessment. The digitalization of procedures for all modes of transport is also intended to bring more speed.

The measures in detail:

  • An overriding public interest is established for selected projects in the areas of rail and road
    (138 motorway projects of urgent need with bottleneck elimination or firmly scheduled with bottleneck elimination), which are being accelerated in planning and construction.
  • For bridges that are to be adapted to future traffic development as part of the renovation, the approval requirement and environmental impact assessment will be eliminated.
  • Planning approval procedures for the construction of roads, railways and waterways will be further digitized.
  • For transport projects in all areas (road, rail, waterway, ports, air traffic) that belong to the core network of the Trans-European Networks (TEN), a uniform approval period of four years is being introduced for the first time.
  • The construction of cycle paths on federal highways will be accelerated and simplified.
  • To enable speed in the expansion of renewable energies, opportunities for solar systems on motorways will be particularly optimized and the construction of wind turbines will be facilitated.

The second discussion of the Federal Council is to take place on November 24, 2023.Construction projects on motorways and railways should start faster in the future to eliminate bottlenecks more quickly. This is the aim of a law by the traffic light coalition that the Bundestag passed on Friday. 138 motorway projects - including seven partially interconnected in Lower Saxony and Bremen - will also be implemented faster.

A2, A7, A27 and A30

According to a recommendation by the Transport Committee, the projects include those on the A2, A7, and A30 motorways in Lower Saxony as well as on the A27, which also passes through Bremen. The A2 is to be expanded to eight lanes between Hannover-Herrenhausen and the Hannover-West junction, where the A352 connection branches off towards Hannover Airport. The Hannover-Buchholz junction is also to be expanded and rebuilt. The A7 is to be expanded to six lanes between Hildesheim and the Salzgitter junction. The A27 is to be expanded to six lanes north of Bremen between Bremen-Überseestadt and the Bremen junction, as is the A30 between the Lotte/Osnabrück and Osnabrück-Süd junctions.

Criticism from the Greens

The Bremen Greens have voiced criticism of the plans concerning the expansion of the A27 motorway. There is neither approval from the Bremen Senate nor has the federal government consulted the Senate on the project. State Spokesman Marek Helsner announced that they would do everything possible to prevent the construction. The eco-party sees the protection of the environment and the quality of life of citizens at risk. In the cases listed, these are measures for which an urgent need for "bottleneck removal" has been determined and to which the states have agreed.

Translated automatically from German.
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