Demo against A66 expansion in Frankfurt: bike parade on the Autobahn against the Riederwald Tunnel | hessenschau.de
Several hundred people demonstrated in Frankfurt against the further construction of the A66 and the construction of the traditional Riederwald tunnel. What bothers you most is that a piece of forest is to be cleared for this purpose.
Under the motto “Protect the forest, save the climate”, several hundred people rode their bikes from Frankfurt’s Mainkai to the Fechenheimer Wald on Saturday. It also went a bit over the A661, which had been closed for the demonstration. The participants were protesting above all against the clearing planned for the Riederwald tunnel in the east of Frankfurt and the continued construction of the A66.
According to the police, around 400 people are taking part in the campaign, the organizers – more than 30 environmental and transport organizations – spoke of 600 participants.
“We must not lose such forests”
The approximately 2.2-kilometer-long gap closure of the A66 should better connect Frankfurt and Hanau in the future. Trees up to 200 years old are to be felled on the 40,000 square meter area for the expansion of the motorway.
You will not allow “the green transport minister in Hesse and the FDP federal transport minister to push through the construction of the A66 extension and the destruction of the Fechenheimer forest,” said Alexis Passadakis from “Ende Gelände Frankfurt”. The forest has grown over centuries and has a high level of biodiversity. “We must not lose such forests.” Instead of giving “climate political Sunday speeches”, projects that are already planned and started and that destroy the climate should be stopped.
The Riederwald tunnel threatens the ability to achieve the European climate goals, stressed Rüdiger Hansen from the Bund for the Environment and Nature Conservation Germany (BUND) in Frankfurt.
Riederwald Tunnel has been controversial for centuries
The expansion of the A66 and its connection to the A661 through the planned Riederwald Tunnel have been one of the long-running political issues in Frankfurt since the mid-1980s. According to the state, around 12,000 young trees were planted in the Schwanheim district to compensate for the planned clearing in 2018.
Supporters hope that the construction will improve traffic flow, environmental activists are calling for the controversial project to be stopped and for a rethinking of transport policy. Again and again there are protests and lawsuits against the federal project in Frankfurt, which costs around 480 million euros.
End of further information