Freeway germany

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Snow drifts and snowfall continue

Snow chaos in germany: hundreds of motorists stuck on autobahns in minus 10 degree temperatures

09.02.2021 06:37 updated: 09.02.2021 06:37

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Author martina hunger

Winter continues to have a firm grip on parts of germany and is causing kilometer-long traffic jams on the autobahns. Hundreds of people stuck on the A2 and forced to spend the night in their vehicles. no improvement in the weather in sight for the next few days.

Update, 6.34 a.m. – further severe obstructions for rail travelers

On tuesday morning, commuters in many parts of germany will have to prepare for further restrictions. Snow-clearing and repair crews were on duty for the railroad so that rail traffic on the main lines could be gradually resumed by tuesday evening, the railroad said on monday. Long-distance traffic had previously been completely suspended on several connections on Monday.

Snow chaos continues in Germany

snow chaos in germany continues © samuel golay/dpa

snow chaos in germany continues © francesca agosta/dpa

snow chaos in germany continues © barbara franke/dpa

snow chaos in germany continues © hendrik schmidt/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © hendrik schmidt/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © roland weihrauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © bernd wustneck/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues continues © fabian strauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © fabian strauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © fabian strauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © fabian strauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues © fabian strauch/dpa snow chaos in germany continues © klaus-dietmar gabbert/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © stefan sauer/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © michal kamaryt/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow chaos in germany continues © ole spata/dpa snow chaos in germany continues snow in germany continues © ole spata/dpa snow in germany continues © ole spata/dpa snow in germany continues © ole spata/dpa snow in germany continues © festim beqiri/dpa snow in germany continues © festim beqiri/dpa snow in germany continues © festim beqiri/dpa

federal transport minister andreas scheuer appealed to citizens in the north and center of germany to refrain from traveling at least until wednesday. "in such extreme conditions, even the best soft heating and the best clearing vehicle can reach their limits," the CSU politician told the newspapers of the funke-mediengruppe (tuesday). "we are working on all fronts to get the north-south connections free – so that we can at least travel on a limited basis," he announced on "bild live".

First news: chaos on the roads

Heavy snowfall again caused chaos on many highways in germany in the night to tuesday. On the A2 near bielefeld, drivers and passengers spent the entire night on the road and had to wait out the freezing cold in their cars for twelve hours in some cases. In the meantime, a 37-kilometer-long traffic jam formed there, which stretched all the way to lower saxony – in both directions together, it was even more than 70 kilometers long. "the overall situation is difficult, we are rotating," said a spokesman for the bielefeld police early tuesday morning.

the freeway was closed in both directions after trucks had already become stuck on monday afternoon because of the snow. "but it will take a very long time before the tangle is cleared," said a spokeswoman for the NRW control center during the night. Despite a detour, the traffic jam had hardly shortened in the early hours of the morning.

According to the police, the situation was somewhat less dramatic near Dortmund, where the A2 was also closed. Dozens of trucks got bogged down on the carriageway in the direction of oberhausen on Monday afternoon, even though a ban on trucks over 7.5 tons was in force until 10 p.m. "the police registered 340 violations of the ban there," said the spokeswoman. Emergency services provided warm drinks and blankets for all the stranded vehicles. But that was probably little consolation for most: according to the situation center, the tailback was ten kilometers long at one point, but dissipated during the night.

Can the expansion and new construction of federal trunk roads and thus also freeways in germany be stopped with legal certainty?? An expert opinion commissioned by NABU answers this question positively. Accordingly, nothing legally stands in the way of a freeway moratorium.

Construction can be halted on highways and trunk roads

A stop to new highway construction is possible - Photo: Helge May

it is possible to get off the new highway – photo: helge may

08. July 2021 – the transport sector is one of the big drivers of the climate crisis. Nevertheless, freeways and federal trunk roads continue to be built, even though this contradicts the climate targets to which germany has committed itself. A legal opinion commissioned by NABU has therefore put the requirements plan to the test. The result:

The current demand plan has not been adequately checked for compatibility with climate or land protection targets by today’s standards. NABU therefore calls for this to be done now in order to avoid further sealing of land, the fragmentation of valuable natural areas and excessive greenhouse gas emissions from the transport sector. The so-called highway moratorium, i.e. a temporary suspension of further construction projects, will allow time to make the necessary adjustments to the federal transport infrastructure and demand plan in order to comply with existing environmental and climate protection targets.

"nature must not be further destroyed for superfluous road construction. The current federal traffic route plan concretes a status that is hostile to climate and nature. We therefore need a construction freeze now in order to gain time for needs-based new planning and to put climate and species protection at the center of action. as there are no legal obstacles, the federal parliament and the federal government are requested to initiate a construction break as soon as possible. To this end, the trunk road expansion act could be made subject to a proviso and earmarked financial resources in the federal budget could be set aside or reallocated for preservation. This would be a concrete step towards finally underpinning the recently tightened climate targets with appropriate measures in the transport sector and thus implementing them. Here, the parties must explain how they will ensure that the necessary realignment of the federal transport infrastructure plan becomes the backbone of the upcoming mobility turnaround. Otherwise, billions of taxpayers’ money will continue to be wasted on nonsensical infrastructure projects and, on top of that, the environment and biodiversity will be severely damaged."

NABU president jorg-andreas kruger

Improving compatibility with climate and land use targets

For years, the federal government and the relevant authorities have been overlooking the actual environmental impact of planned transport infrastructure. Neither the federal transport infrastructure plan nor the current requirements plan were examined in the course of the strategic environmental assessment in 2016 for their compatibility with the paris climate protection agreement or the federal government’s land consumption targets.

Land use changes due to the destruction of natural CO2 sinks such as forests and moors are also not priced in. This omission must now be remedied, especially in the context of the climate ruling by the Federal Constitutional Court. The legal opinion shows that a new construction and expansion freeze is possible with legal certainty – and how this can be implemented.

The legal opinion argues that there are no binding timelines or other legal implementation obligations with the federal transport plan that require new construction and expansion of federal trunk roads in the coming years. In addition, the environmental framework conditions have changed significantly compared to the original environmental assessment in 2016, so that this must be taken into account in the current review of the requirements plan.

No new planning approval procedures should be initiated, at least until the current review of the demand plan has been completed. Current planning approval procedures should be suspended and the implementation of federal trunk roads that have already been approved should be abandoned for the time being. For this, a proviso must be anchored in the trunk road expansion law so that no planning justification is given for new and ongoing planning approval procedures because the climate and land protection targets are not met. The earmarked funding must be set aside in the federal budget, should not be approved, or should be reallocated for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.

Download the report

A 67 near the Gernsheim junction (southern Hesse) - Photo: Helge May

Large segments of the population think there are enough roads in germany. You want a focus on maintenance and a halt to new highway construction. This is shown by a representative survey conducted by the opinion research institute Kantar on behalf of NABU. More →

Streetcar construction site - Photo: Helge May

For the mobility turnaround, infrastructure restructuring and better procedures for transport infrastructure projects are needed. NABU would like to turn the discourse in a constructive direction with concrete proposals for improving planning and approval procedures. More →

A change of course is needed for a socially responsible change in transport - Photo: NABU/Helge May

A study commissioned by NABU shows how climate-damaging and socially unbalanced the current instruments of transport policy are. At present, it is mainly higher-income earners who benefit, while low-income households go away empty-handed. More →

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Winter Bird Watch 2022 - Graphic: publicgarden/Mathias Schaf (Greenfinch)

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the first part of the storm series has passed over the north of germany. No major damage was reported, the storm surge at hamburg’s fish market became more of a photo motif. A highway had to be closed after a hailstorm. And at the weather station hiddensee-dornbusch at the baltic sea 124 km/h were measured. Part 2 of the storm series continues on saturday.

A31 closed in the bentheim district

the fish market with the fish auction hall is partially under water in the late evening during the high water of the elbe river. But the announced storm surge was not that bad. © dpa, daniel bockwoldt, dbo sei

An intense hailstorm on highway 31 caught motorists off guard on thursday evening. Some lost control of their vehicle due to extreme slippery conditions in the area of wietmarschen/lohne (county of grafschaft bentheim) and accidents occurred, the police department of osnabruck announced. The autobahn was temporarily closed to traffic in the southbound direction.

The hamburger fish market escaped the expected storm surge unscathed. The water only spilled over a little, passers-by reported. Police personally approached motorists in the area near the elbe and asked them to move their vehicles – the request had previously been made via twitter.

However, another warning is to be expected at the weekend, which could also be "significantly more pronounced," emphasized a spokeswoman for the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH).

Storm enters new round on saturday

the wind speeds at the second part of the storm series on sunday. Especially on the north sea coast fierce.

But we’re not through with the unpleasant storms yet – it will continue seamlessly after a short rest period on friday:

"on saturday evening and sunday night, the storm from deep NADIA reaches its peak. the strongest wind is expected on the north frisian islands and on the baltic coast. there will be heavy gusts in any case, but also hurricane-like gusts can be more common (roughly: 100-120 km/h). Some weather models are even predicting hurricane gusts (from 118 km/h) in places, and this does not mean the exposed hiddensee-dornbusch station. There will probably even gusts up to 150 km/h, perhaps even above. the storm will ease in the northeastern half of the country during the course of sunday", explained our meteorologist rainer buchhop.

And on monday? Storm or gale?

Possibly the next storm on monday, at least the next low is coming and that will give us again cold and wet weather and already again gale force winds. Our meterologist carlo pfaff in addition: "widespread snow showers are possible in the course of the day up to the lowlands." for this the temperatures are from 0 to 6 degrees. "this could be quite a toxic low. But this is still a bit far away, there are many things possible for monday. it could be the most severe of the three storms, but it could also be just a breeze."

Snow chaos in germany: hundreds of motorists stuck on autobahns in minus 10 degree temperatures

Update, 6.34 a.m. – further severe obstructions for rail travelers

Snow chaos continues in Germany

First news: chaos on the roads

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