Faster highway construction: headwind for Wissing from countries

Federal Transport Minister Wissing is stepping up the pace in the construction of the Autobahn. Now he could be slowed down by some federal states. State governments in which the Greens participate want more time.

Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) is threatening to be slowed down by federal states with plans for faster construction of certain motorway projects.

State governments in which the Greens co-govern want more time, according to a survey by the German Press Agency. Wissing had set a deadline for the states. They should inform the federal government by Friday whether they agree to the statutory codification of a project to eliminate bottlenecks.

Testing in several countries is ongoing

North Rhine-Westphalia has not yet given the green light for accelerated motorway projects. “The talks are ongoing,” said a spokesman for NRW Transport Minister Oliver Krischer (Greens). Hessen needs more time to examine the plans, it said. The Hessian Ministry of Transport will “need a few days longer,” said Minister Tarek Al-Wazir (Greens).

According to the Ministry of Transport in Baden-Württemberg, it is still coordinating within the government around Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens). In Bavaria, the federal government wants to determine “outstanding public interest” for 23 motorway expansion projects. According to the Ministry of Transport, the Free State of Bavaria will register all of these projects for the Planning Acceleration Act.

The Rhineland-Palatinate Economics and Transport Minister Daniela Schmitt (FDP) supports the acceleration of motorway projects planned by her party colleague Wissing, as she informed the dpa in Mainz.

The federal government has identified 145 projects

At the end of March, the traffic light coalition at the federal level agreed that there should be an acceleration for motorway projects that are traffic jams and bottlenecks. That’s a total of 145, but they also include sections of a project.