Ideally, the Wanktunnel will come by 2030

Alexander Dobrindt is finally hoping for a visible sign of progress for the Wanktunnel: The CSU MP gets it.

After the summer holidays, the first test drilling will take place on the outskirts of Partenkirchen.

At an on-site appointment, there was now new information on the last piece of the puzzle to reduce traffic congestion for the Loisachtal.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

- Alexander Dobrindt reads the daily newspaper. Not daily from the newspaper roll for breakfast. But just the reports that his speaker considers important to him. Transport is at the top of the priority list. “I know the letters to the editor,” he emphasized yesterday at the on-site visit at the Partenkirchner roundabout. He followed the debates about the tunnel solutions for the Loisachtal and Werdenfelser Land. Finally, after the announcement that the groundbreaking for the Auerberg tunnel would take place this year, the critics shot from all directions. Because they just consider the Auerberg- without the Wanktunnel or just before as pointless. The CSU member of the Bundestag knows the arguments inside out - and has a clear answer to them: "It is important that the Auerberg comes, basically it is even the guarantee thatthat the Wanktunnel will be built, because this is the only way to completely relieve the pressure. ”Ursel Kössel, the former councilor and avowed fighter of the 2-tunnel initiative, who was also invited to the on-site meeting, nods, takes a deep breath. "That's good to hear."

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At the scene of the action: Alexander Dobrindt invited to a conversation at the future north portal at the foot of the Wank.

© FOTOPRESS THOMAS VERY

On this afternoon, no one left the slightest doubt that the Wanktunnel might not come.

Not the CSU regional group leader in Berlin, not the two representatives of the state building authority in Weilheim: boss Stefan Scheckinger and the district manager Nadine Heiss.

Four out of five parts of the traffic relief project are already underway

Scheckinger, who has headed the road construction authority for over a year, remembers the year 2000. At that time, he was an employee of the motorway management when the Farchanter tunnel was inaugurated. “At that time nobody would have dared to predict when this entire project could be realized.” Now, 21 years later, “it is within reach”. What began with the bypassing of Farchant should come to a dignified and, above all, necessary end with the Wanktunnel. "This project has five components, four of which are running, then the fifth must follow, because this is the only way to completely relieve the burden." Oberau will be finished next year as the second piece of the puzzle after Farchant; the Auerberg tunnel could follow.

The question of the date for the bypass of Partenkirchen remains.

The experts find it difficult to name a time window.

“Our goal is 2030”, Scheckinger then comes out with the answer.

“Nothing can go wrong there.” So it should be safe for two years during which the car avalanche will roll a little more unchecked towards Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Scheckinger speaks openly: “We can't finish at the same time, we don't have to mess around with that.

That's not possible. ”After all, the Auerberg project is already underway.

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The experts from the State Building Authority: Nadine Heiß and Stefan Scheckinger provide information on the planning status on site at the Partenkirchner roundabout.

© FOTOPRESS THOMAS VERY

Drilling for 600,000 euros after the summer vacation

But just as much has happened with regard to the Wanktunnel. And - in Dobrindt's eyes the most important thing: there will soon be something to see. “We'll start with test drilling in the summer,” he announces. “You saw that at the Auerberg: Since the clearing took place, you can tell that something is happening.” The road builders now want to set exactly this “visible sign” on the Wank. After the summer holidays with the explorations at the north and the future south portal. “We have to see what the subsurface is like,” he emphasizes. There is information from the old documents, but after the route has changed, new knowledge is needed. The drilling costs around 600,000 euros, which will be followed by further, deeper insights into the Wank massif.

All of this is necessary in order to be able to complete the preliminary draft plan, with which the authority then goes into the approval process.

The plans should be in place by the end of this year.

The construction of a main tunnel and an exploratory tunnel is currently planned.

Everything is now planned in 3D - "also to speed up the measure," noted Dobrindt.

The fact that the Wanktunnel is being rattled again, this fear also takes hot the skeptics with a final argument.

"We have already awarded planning contracts for around 7.5 million euros, and we are bound by these contracts."