In 1966, a multi-lane city motorway was built through the English Garden, on which more than 100,000 cars drive every day. 50 years later, the city council decided to heal this wound. But now the project is in question again.
Metropolises like New York or London may have spectacular concert halls and skyscrapers, but their city parks are nothing but better allotments – at least from a Munich perspective. Because while Central Park is almost 350 hectares in size and Hyde Park just 142 hectares, the English Garden covers an impressive 384 hectares. That’s why he’s the pride of Munich, alongside the Oktoberfest, the Frauenkirche and TSV 1860.
However, that did not stop the city from building the Mittlerer Ring right through the historic complex in 1966 – a multi-lane city motorway on which more than 100,000 cars travel every day. Since then, the park has been divided into a north and a south part. That bothered many Munich residents, but it was not until 2010 that two of them started an initiative for reunification. The idea of the architect couple Petra Lejeune and Hermann Grub: A tunnel lushly planted on the surface should at least partially heal the wound inflicted so abruptly on the landscape.
The two eagerly promoted the project, collected millions in donations, convinced the CSU-led state government and the city council, which was dominated by black and red at the time, and unanimously voted in favor of the project in 2017. Everything seemed to be going well: the city awarded the initiators a medal of merit, and the federal government donated 2.7 million euros for the planning. And even former mayor Hans-Jochen Vogel, during whose tenure the Mittlerer Ring was built, joined the supporters.
But now the project, which was estimated at the time to be worth 125 million euros, is on the brink. The Greens, who are now the strongest faction in the city council, are most opposed to the tunnel – and justify this with climate protection, of all things. The building authorities have calculated that around 900 large trees would have to be felled for the construction site. In addition, there are the CO₂ emissions from the production and transport of concrete. The SPD is moving along as a smaller coalition partner, and SPD mayor Dieter Reiter is now also rejecting the tunnel.
The initiators and the CSU criticize that the building authority does not explain how they came to their numbers. According to an in-depth study by a planning office and calculations by the initiators, not even half as many trees would have to give way. Some supporters suspect political calculations behind the city council’s decision, because tunnels are expensive and the green-red city government would prefer to reduce car traffic. She has therefore buried three other tunnel projects – in places where many residents would have benefited. If the city were to build a tube through an uninhabited park, it would probably have trouble explaining itself.
However, the initiators are not giving up and are now preparing a petition. You can be sure of their support: Most of the local politicians in the Schwabing district, in which part of the English Garden is located, are behind you. And most of Munich probably too – in an Infratest survey nine years ago, 83 percent spoke out in favor of the tunnel.