The way for a new car tunnel in the north of Munich is clear: the SPD is now definitely committed to an underground connection from Schleißheimer Strasse to the A99. With the factions of the CSU/Free Voters and the FDP/Bavarian Party, there is now a stable majority in the city council. This would allow the city to meet a long-standing demand from the car manufacturer BMW, which wants better connections. The SPD’s turnaround is surprising and spicy: the Social Democrats are breaking the coalition agreement with the Greens. They still wanted to continue the common policy, according to a wordy statement.
If there are many names under such a written communication, then the situation is usually explosive. In addition to the group chairmen, Wednesday’s message included the names of the three mayors and the Munich party chairmen of the Greens and SPD. The coalition partners describe their “different attitudes” as follows: “While the Greens want to concentrate on a strong expansion of the environmental network and reject a commitment to a tunnel, the SPD also wants to strengthen the environmental network as part of the overall concept for traffic in the north of Munich initiate planning approval for the Munich-North tunnel (connecting the A 99/A 92 motorway junction to Schleißheimer Strasse).
The Greens and Social Democrats are trying to meander around the question of a breach of the coalition agreement. The variant, which includes a tunnel under the FFH area Panzerwiese/Hartelholz, is “still excluded,” they write. However, the text in the coalition agreement reads: “Planning for the tunnels in Schleißheimer Strasse and Tegernseer Landstrasse will be discontinued.” The Social Democrats had long prepared their departure from this promise with public statements, now the coalition council on Monday decided how to deal with it.
According to reports, Mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) in particular is said to have pushed for a quick decision in the city council per tunnel. “People and companies in the north of Munich have been waiting for a reasonable traffic concept for decades,” he said on Tuesday when asked. In addition to the expansion of local public transport and new footpaths and cycle paths, there is also an urgent need for a solution for individual transport. “Because the cars and daily traffic jams cannot simply be explained away.”
Internally, the project is expected to be worth billions.
Prior to this, Reiter’s faction leaders Anne Hübner and Christian Müller had shown sympathy for the fact that the tunnel should be built after all. The meeting of the coalition council with the Greens was “very friendly,” said SPD parliamentary group leader Christian Müller on Tuesday. The tunnel construction is important to the Social Democrats “because of the companies in the north, especially BMW, and the connection”.
But what do the Greens get out of the fact that they apparently tolerate deviations from the coalition agreement? Group leader Müller denied the question of whether the SPD would have to pay a price for this. If the Greens had an “urgent concern” in the future, then they would discuss it “just as amicably”. City council circles have heard that the Greens now have a “voucher” that they can redeem with their coalition partner. And how united were the Social Democrats on the tunnel issue? “Almost mutually agreed” on the matter, assures Müller. However, it can be heard from parliamentary group circles that not everyone is happy with the about-face.
The Greens tolerate the actions of the SPD, they cannot understand it. “There is currently no viable overall solution for traffic in the north of Munich,” said Mayor Katrin Habenschaden, who is also responsible for the economy. She is one hundred percent behind BMW’s desire to have a traffic jam-free journey for goods and employees. But ripping the tunnel out of the overall plans without an in-depth review could also be counterproductive. “For such an incredibly expensive decision of the century for traffic in the north of Munich, more sound planning is needed.” And solid funding, she added. Little is known about the costs, internally the administration assumes a project worth billions.
The FDP wants even more tunnels
Her parliamentary group leader, Florian Roth, would also have liked a comparison with an alternative that focuses on the expansion of local public transport and cycle paths. He still doesn’t think the construction of the tunnel is as safe as the SPD. In this legislative period, there will probably not even be a decision to build. “I suspect this will be an election issue.”
The CSU will certainly be happy to take up this before the local elections in 2026. Faction leader Manuel Pretzl first talks about the “inner turmoil” of the coalition, which is now openly breaking up. Incidentally, he considers the turnaround of the SPD to be good news for the north of Munich, the people there and the business location in general. “We have always signaled to the SPD that they can work with us here.”
The FDP will also vote per tunnel – and they would like more of them in the city. “We ask ourselves why a tunnel is possible if BMW is committed to it, but should be completely unthinkable if ‘only’ the noise-plagued residents want a tunnel,” said parliamentary group leader Jörg Hoffmann.