Status: 02/23/2023 5:04 p.m
highways? No thanks: Greenpeace and BUND got involved in the coalition dispute to accelerate infrastructure expansion. The environmental organizations are calling for a realignment of the Federal Transport Route Plan.
It is one of the top issues of the traffic light coalition: the acceleration of planning infrastructure expansion. At the center of the debate is the question of which transport projects should be considered to be of “overriding public interest” in the future.
While the Greens primarily want to promote the expansion of the rail network through new regulations, the FDP under Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing is also calling for the construction of new motorways to be accelerated. The Greens strictly reject this.
In the middle of the coalition dispute, the environmental groups Greenpeace and the Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland (BUND) are now getting involved and are even demanding a complete stop to road construction. A paper was presented for this purposein which it is said that the construction, operation and maintenance of the motorways and federal roads make a decisive contribution to the worsening of the climate crisis.
“Climate Check” for Federal Transport Route Plan
Greenpeace and BUND are of the opinion that additional motorways and federal roads would make road traffic faster and more attractive. Above all, the distances covered would be increased by new buildings.
Greenpeace mobility expert Lena Donat said that more and more roads are only increasing the climate lag of traffic. A “climate check” of the federal transport route plan is essential to ensure that climate targets are met in transport. “Until then, all highway projects should be put on hold,” demands Donat.
BUND managing director Antje von Broock criticized that the current federal transport route plan was untenable. The federal government must be serious about protecting the climate and species.
Motorway construction is said to affect protected areas
According to the analysis of the environmental associations, the construction and expansion of motorways and federal roads produce significantly more CO2 emissions than the environmental report on the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 shows.
More than 13,000 hectares of land would be taken up by the construction of urgent trunk road projects alone. Around 1000 kilometers of previously connected large animal habitats would be cut up and protected areas impaired.
No agreement between the FDP and the Greens
Minister of Transport Wissing, for his part, refers to a long-term forecast by the Ministry of Transport. According to this, freight traffic in Germany is expected to increase massively by the middle of the century – with road transport growing disproportionately. The road will therefore remain the most important mode of transport, according to Wissing. The FDP accuses the Greens of waging an “ideological fight” against the streets.
Above all, the Greens are pushing for increased efforts to achieve climate targets in the transport sector. In the debate, more and more bets are placed on compromise solutions, such as the fact that the FDP will ultimately give up its opposition to the introduction of a general speed limit in favor of faster motorway construction.