Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing wants to step on the gas: The A8 motorway near Holzkirchen and Irschenberg is to be widened from six to eight lanes as quickly as possible.
The planning for this started years ago.
Holzkirchen
– The preliminary planning has been going on for ten years.
Now the eight-lane widening of the A8 autobahn between Munich and the Inntal triangle is even on the negotiating table of the traffic light coalition in Berlin.
According to current media reports, Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) wants to eliminate various motorway bottlenecks, including the aforementioned section of the A 8. While a coalition dispute between the FDP and the Greens is looming here, planning at Autobahn GmbH (South Bavaria branch) continues undeterred.
Two sections affecting the district of Miesbach are high on the list of priorities for expansion to four lanes in each direction: the sections from Hofolding to Holzkirchen and from the Leitzachsenke via Irschenberg to Dettendorf (Rosenheim district).
"In two to three years we want to go into the planning approval process," explains Josef Seebacher, spokesman for Autobahn GmbH (Southern Bavaria), when asked.
The costs are estimated at around 350 million euros for each section.
According to Seebacher, the planning order is derived from the current Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP), which came into force in 2016.
Preliminary planning had already started in 2013.
Said sections are listed in the highest priority "urgent need with debottlenecking".
"We are in the process of gradually expanding the motorway from the Munich-North junction to Munich-South," says Seebacher.
A package is planned up to Hofolding, the subsequent construction phase runs from Hofolding to the Holzkirchen junction.
"A new bridge is currently being built there, which is already designed for the eight lanes," says Seebacher.
The Hofolding-Holzkirchen section is considered to be particularly at risk of congestion because a large part of the traffic between the Munich metropolitan region and Tegernsee (B 318) or in the Isarwinkel (B 13) is also on its way here.
"After that in the direction of Weyarn it will be less," says Seebacher.
That is why the need for expansion between Holzkirchen and the Leitzachsenke is not all that urgent.
In addition, the Mangfallbrücke would have to be widened at great expense.
"And in the Weyarn and Valley areas, problems with the local water protection zone of Stadtwerke München are foreseeable," says Seebacher.
The construction of additional noise protection systems is already being delayed.
Speaking of noise protection: Where the eight-lane widening is coming, neighboring settlements must be protected more than before.
“In 2019, noise prevention was tightened,” says Seebacher.
In order to remove another "dam root", Autobahn GmbH is pressing ahead with the expansion of the Irschenberg section from the Leitzachbrücke.
Here, as in Holzkirchen, some parts of the bridge that were built in the 1930s are still under traffic, emphasizes Seebacher: "This is an old motorway.
Some renovations would soon be due anyway.”
For both sections - Irschenberg and Hofolding-Holzkirchen - the preliminary drafts, including cost-benefit analysis, are relatively advanced and approved within Autobahn GmbH.
But before the planning approval process starts, Autobahn GmbH wants to clarify other issues relevant to approval, such as nature conservation.
"Our goal is to start the process with the most watertight documents possible," says Seebacher.
It is unclear how long the planning approval will take.
All those responsible for public affairs are heard, and changes may be necessary.
This can take one to three years;
if the decision is made, it can be appealed.
"It's a massive intervention," says Seebacher.
"It is understandable if all interests are weighed up." It remains to be seen whether and how the Federal Minister of Transport can accelerate the expansion.
Resistance comes mainly from the Greens, namely from Holzkirchner Bundestag deputy Karl Bär.
He calculates that the planned highway widening would cost 80 hectares.
The constituency deputy Alexander Radwan (CSU), on the other hand, welcomes the expansion: "We have been supporting it for a long time."
You can read information about the construction of the new motorway bridge near Holzkirchen here.
