The election to the National Council on September 29 is looming: At a press conference of the People’s Party on the topic of infrastructure expansion, Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer (VP) criticized his Green coalition partner. The Chancellor accused the ministry led by Leonore Gewessler of “dogmatically controlled politics”: projects had not been implemented as intended by law, but had been delayed or prohibited due to lengthy examinations.
This includes, among others, the stopped construction of the Vienna Lobau Tunnel beneath the Donau-Auen National Park, the Traisental Expressway (S34) and the Marchfeld Expressway (S8) in Lower Austria.
If he were to lead the next government, he would push for the completion of the projects, announced Nehammer. “Infrastructure is the key to a competitive location,” he said. Commuters and private transport will continue to exist even after the expansion of public transport.
A total of 44.5 billion euros will be invested in infrastructure by 2030: ten billion in energy, eleven billion in road construction projects and 21 billion euros in rail expansion. The rest will go towards expanding broadband infrastructure. According to VP transport spokesman Andreas Ottenschläger, the domestic network of motorways and expressways currently covers 2,250 kilometers.
Friedrich Zibuschka from the Institute of Transport at the Vienna University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences argued for the relief effects of road construction projects to be included: the numerous traffic jams on the Vienna Tangente, for example, would save 75,000 tons of CO2 distributed.
Reaction of the Greens
General Secretary Olga Voglauer spoke on behalf of the Greens on Monday. “Under certain conditions, good infrastructure also includes roads, for example when it comes to relieving particularly congested town centers,” she said in a press release. But there is no need for “billion-dollar graves and concrete sins.” The VP accused Voglauer of wanting to destroy nature reserves with highways.
The Climate Ministry responded to OÖN’s inquiry: “The infrastructure we build today determines what our country will look like tomorrow. […] It is also clear that not every idea from the past is still suitable for our future. A motorway that destroys unique nature reserves forever can no longer be the best solution. More roads lead to more traffic. For decades, more motorways have always created more traffic jams.”
Climate Minister Gewessler made a statement on Monday on the sidelines of a press conference: “We cannot continue as before if we want to protect the environment and the climate,” she said. For decades, concrete has been laid over, often including important agricultural land. All of this for “another road and even more traffic.”
