In the coalition dispute about faster planning procedures in traffic, Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) continues to insist on the expansion of the road and underpins this with new figures. “According to a current study, road freight traffic will increase by 34 percent by 2051,” Wissing told the “Reutlinger General-Anzeiger”.
If the road is not expanded, it will have massive consequences for Germany. “That’s why we need to eliminate the bottlenecks everywhere in Germany through necessary expansion measures.”
Wissing wants roads and bridges built faster. The Greens strictly reject acceleration of new motorway construction. Even a coalition committee had not achieved a breakthrough on Thursday. Negotiations are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
Wissing said: “The road is the most important mode of transport. I want to give the numbers again. The volume of goods transported in 2019 was 4.367 billion tons. In 2051 we will have 5.7 billion tons.” That is an increase of 34 percent on the road. “The question is how to transport it.” The rail capacity is not sufficient to shift the additional volume of goods from the road there.
