The Free State of Bavaria must repair environmental damage to moors that have dried up over large areas due to the construction of the Kramer Tunnel near Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The Federal Administrative Court has rejected a non-admission complaint from the Free State against a corresponding ruling by the Bavarian Administrative Court (VGH), as a spokeswoman for Germany’s highest administrative court in Leipzig said on Thursday.
Last year, the VGH obliged the Free State to take the legally required restructuring measures. This judgment is now legally binding. The decision of the Federal Administrative Court is a great success for nature conservation in Bavaria, explained Peter Rottner, state manager of BUND Nature Conservation (BN). “After years of delaying tactics, the Free State of Bavaria must finally act and repair the damage.” Although tunnel construction is already well advanced, it is assumed that renovation is still technically possible and the damage can be repaired.
The dispute between the environmentalists and the Bavarian authorities had been going on since 2014. During the construction of the Kramer Tunnel, groundwater seeped into the tunnel. According to the Federal Nature Conservation Agency, the groundwater level on the mountain fell significantly as a result, which meant that a significant proportion of nationally important wetland biotopes dried up and European-protected biotope complexes were destroyed. The association sued for remedial measures.
The Kramer Tunnel is a large-scale project to bypass Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Upper Bavaria, which is eagerly awaited by many citizens and sharply criticized by others. After decades of planning, construction of the main tube of the 3.4 kilometer long tunnel began in February 2020. It is intended to relieve the region of heavy through traffic from the end of 2024; There are thousands of cars on the federal highway 23 every day.