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CP variant established as a clear favorite by experts
© VOL.AT / Steurer
The road construction company Asfinag has spoken out on the question of the layout of the Bodensee motorway (S18), which has been controversial for decades.
After years of research, Asfinag announced Wednesday that it had settled on the CP variant, a detour from Lustenau. The CP variant is the only one of the two options examined that has the possibility of legal approval. The costs were estimated at 1,300 to 1,500 million euros.
Connection between Vorarlberg and Switzerland
The Bodensee motorway is intended to connect the Austrian and Swiss motorway networks with each other at a high level. It is a connection that has been debated and discussed in Vorarlberg for decades. Defenders and opponents are apparently irreconcilable with each other, also because the road is supposed to go through the last remaining reed landscape in the lower Rhine valley of Vorarlberg. The “old” variant of the S18 that was last sought was shot down in 2006 by the Constitutional Court. Since then an alternative has been sought.
Lustenau Bypass east
The options remained: a 7.5 kilometer long Ried road including a tunnel under a Natura 2000 protected area (variant Z) and an 8.6 kilometer eastern detour to Lustenau (variant CP). Almost exactly nine years ago, the country voted in favor of variant Z in a government decision.
The purple line represents the preferred CP variant.
“In the course of the experts’ investigations it became clear that the CP variant has the least impact on nature, ecology and protected areas,” the Asfinag information said. In terms of reducing traffic congestion, both variants would achieve a high level of effectiveness in supra-regional traffic, and even the CP variant offers advantages in terms of reducing congestion in regional traffic on the low-level road network. In the next planning steps, Asfinag will now continue with the CP variant.
Criticisms of Landesrat Rauch
Greens spokesman Johannes Rauch, who has always been an opponent of the project, stated on his Facebook page: “It remains to be seen if, in the end, it will ever be financially viable and approved.” In times of climate crisis and budget difficulties, the desired connection is “unimaginable.” In his opinion, the highways should be interconnected “where they are less distant and in a tunnelled version”. An evaluation of the state government’s decision was still pending.
Construction will begin in 2025 at the earliest
Last year, Asfinag determined that construction of the S18 could begin in 2025 at best. However, the scenario of numerous appeals and court proceedings, which will likely go to the last resort, seems more realistic. Even state politicians don’t believe S18 will exist in the next 20 years.
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