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A year before the federal elections, the Greens are calling for a radical rethinking of German transport policy. In a joint initiative, the leaders of the party and the parliamentary group speak in favor of a moratorium on the restart of federal highways and highways. “We need a different transportation policy,” said party leader Annalena Baerbock. Süddeutsche Zeitung.
“Plans for federal highways and highways must be verified to verify that they meet climate goals, necessity and economic efficiency,” said Anton Hofreiter, president of the SZ. One currently particularly controversial construction project, namely the further construction of the A49 in Hesse, should “stop now,” Baerbock said. The police had recently started cleaning up protest camps in the region. The activists are trying to stop the logging that has started. New demonstrations were expected for Sunday.
The Greens are turning against the long-term dominance of road planning in German transport policy. “The federal government’s traffic planning cemented countless highway projects over the next ten years and thwarted German climate goals,” Hofreiter said. The transport sector must also make a substantial contribution to solving the climate crisis. Instead of building more and more highways and ring roads, the focus should be on the massive expansion of buses and trains, as well as strengthening the network and bicycle mobility offers, explained the leader of the parliamentary group.
Until now, the priorities have been on road traffic: the federal trunk road network is already one of the densest in Europe, with 13,000 kilometers of motorways and 38,000 kilometers of federal highways. The Federal Ministry of Transport’s planning foresees around 80 new construction projects and more than 200 highway-only expansion projects by 2030.
Last year’s results also show that the highway receives much more attention than the railroad. In the case of motorways, 61 kilometers of new construction have been built and 38 kilometers have been extended. 122 kilometers of new construction and twelve kilometers of expansion were added to federal highways. The climate-friendly railway, on the other hand, only required six kilometers of new routes with new tracks, despite the government planning to double the number of passengers by 2030.
Also in the coming years, high road costs are expected to change little. The current Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan, the model for transport planning in this country, foresees investments of 270 billion euros by 2030. Half of the funds flow to roads, 40 percent to railways and rest towards rivers and canals.
Baerbock: Continue the construction of the A49 badly in terms of traffic, environmental policy and climate
However, the Greens are not entirely alien to highway projects. The black-green state government of Hesse had approved the construction of the A49 between Kassel and Gießen in the coalition agreement. More recently, the Greens in the environmental movement were criticized for not getting more involved in the protests.
Now Baerbock says clearly: “The subsequent construction of the A49 is incorrect in terms of traffic, environmental and climate policy.” CDU, SPD and FDP would have been driving the highway for decades. “And that’s at a time when global warming is accelerating dramatically. So: the federal government must stop building the A49 now so the valuable trees can remain,” Baerbock said.
Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer is the customer. He has the strings in hand, the government of the state of Hesse must comply. With him, Baerbock also brings Hessian Green Transport Minister Tarek Al-Wazir to the parade, who did not support the project, but has to implement it as a coalition partner of the CDU.
Car traffic has been one of the main climate polluters in Germany for years. You are making a significant contribution to Germany not meeting the requirements of the Paris Agreement. Environmental groups recently criticized the government’s direction. The BUND talks about the failure of climate policy. Additionally, new highway construction projects make headlines because the projects, which are often implemented as public-private partnerships (PPPs), are often more expensive than expected.
The Ministry of Transport rejects the return mail move
The green push sparked backlash on Sunday. Andreas Scheuer’s Ministry of Transport (CSU) immediately rejected it. The federal government is also sticking with the completion of the A49, his ministry said. Eases other connections and locations and shortens travel times. The legal status has also been clearly clarified. The applicable building law has existed for all construction phases since 2017. The FDP in the Bundestag also reacted angrily. “Germany cannot afford a preventive transport policy, price increases and bans,” said transport policy spokesman Oliver Luksic. “As a transit country in the heart of Europe, we need a modern infrastructure.”
There was also a contradiction from the grand coalition: “There cannot and will not be a fundamental end to the construction of roads, as mobility is the essential backbone of our society and our prosperity,” said Ulrich Lange, vice chairman of the CDU / parliamentary group. CSU. The SPD fears the side effects of a moratorium. “An immediate stoppage of construction would cement traffic jams on our roads and cause considerable environmental damage,” warns Sören Bartol, a transport politician. “We need a major change in freight transport to rail, but the road will remain indispensable to our economy and mobility for years to come.”
