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Road Construction: Nature Conservation Association Calls for Moratorium and Climate Assessment

For example, Bavaria: In the home state of Federal Transport Minister Scheuer (CSU), an especially large number of roads are being built. The Nature Conservation Union is now calling for a complete rethinking, a climate protection moratorium, and the end of new construction projects that also drive land consumption. Meanwhile, the minister is launching further prestige projects in Tölz and Garmisch.

Empty as never before - during the pandemic: The A99 is one of the busiest roads in the country - except on Easter Sunday 2020 - and is now being expanded to ten lanes including shoulders near Kirchheim. The BN fundamentally criticizes such projects. | Photo: J. Reichel
Empty as never before - during the pandemic: The A99 is one of the busiest roads in the country - except on Easter Sunday 2020 - and is now being expanded to ten lanes including shoulders near Kirchheim. The BN fundamentally criticizes such projects. | Photo: J. Reichel
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Johannes Reichel

With the demand for a moratorium on road construction and a climate compatibility check of projects in view of the Paris Climate Agreement, the Bund Naturschutz has once again intervened in the debate on the mobility transition. For some time now, Germany's largest environmental and nature conservation association has been denouncing the "road construction dinosaurs" in Germany and advocating a complete rethink, both at the federal level and especially in Bavaria. "We now need a climate protection moratorium for long-distance road construction in the Free State," recently appealed BN-Bayern head Richard Mergner.

"All road construction projects in Bavaria must be put to the test. If they are not in line with the Paris climate goals, they must be permanently discarded," demands the BN chairman. In recent decades, more than enough roads have been built. They have demonstrably led to more, not less, traffic volume.

According to the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP), new roads and road expansions with a total length of around 1,500 kilometers and estimated costs of around 13 billion euros are planned to be built in Bavaria alone in the coming years. This corresponds to a land consumption of 4305 hectares, as a response from the federal government to a query from the Greens revealed. With these projects alone, neither Bavaria nor the federal government could achieve their climate goals, Mergner warns.

Wind turbines instead of highways

On the planned area, 8,600 wind turbines could instead be built, the association calculates. In the Free State, traffic-related CO2 emissions amount to 34 million tons per year. This corresponds to 42 percent of total emissions in Bavaria. The BN calls for a departure from rigid adherence to the BVWP and thus to the Federal Trunk Road Expansion Act.

"Enough is enough, the German road network circles the Earth six times! What we need is an attractive public transport system also in rural areas. For buses, call buses, or dial-a-ride taxis on hourly and half-hourly schedules, Bavaria is well served by roads," Mergner further demanded.

The saved money should be better used for the expansion of footpaths and bike paths and for the electrification of rail lines, according to the BN. For example, the line from Nuremberg to Bayreuth becomes single-track shortly before Bayreuth and is not electrified, and expansion has been discussed for 20 years, while next to it runs a six-lane highway," Mergner illustrated as an example.

Moreover, Mergner points to another, less often emphasized but still pressing issue: "The consumption of land is further aggravated". In addition, traffic calming and accident reduction are not being advanced. The goal of shifting freight to rail and ship is also being missed. Answers to the question of how the mobility transition is to be advanced are missing in the election program of the Union, but other parties also need to catch up, the association's chairman said.

Scheuer rejects criticism

Federal Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer promptly responded to the criticism from the environmental association on the occasion of the groundbreaking ceremony for the eight-lane expansion of the A99. He did not want a concept of "either-or" but one of "both-and" and referred to the "major project" of a long-announced but sluggishly implemented high-speed bicycle route from Munich to Garching. However, costs here are estimated at 35 million euros in the district, while 125 million euros are earmarked by the federal government for the A99 expansion. Scheuer expects a further increase of 15 percent by 2030, regardless of any climate protection targets, on the most important transit route in Central Europe, which during vacation periods experiences 165,000 and on normal days 120,000 vehicles (30 percent trucks) daily, making it one of the most frequented routes in the republic.

"The A99 is of paramount importance for the Munich metropolitan area. We will continue to expand the A99 to enhance its capacity. At the same time, residents will benefit. Noise protection walls will be raised to up to seven meters, and open-graded asphalt will make driving quieter. With our investments amounting to around 125 million euros, we ensure less congestion and more tranquility," the minister believes.

Shortly before, Scheuer had given the official start for further, equally controversial and prestigious construction projects in the Bavarian Oberland with obligatory "groundbreaking" ceremonies: the 48-million-euro northern bypass in Bad Tölz and the Auerberg tunnel near Garmisch. The expansion of the additional tunnel with a four-lane tube between Eschenlohe and Oberau following the congested A95. The 1.9-kilometer section, part of a four-tunnel project to relieve Garmisch-Patenkirchen, is expected to cost 170 million euros, with a total of one billion euros estimated. The adjacent railway line, on the other hand, is still single-track and correspondingly vulnerable to disruptions, but at least electrified. In Tölz, however, diesel multiple units are still used on the Oberlandbahn.

Translated automatically from German.
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