Finzel fights for the expansion

The widening of federal highway 4 in the so-called weichengereuth in coburg has been an issue for decades. For decades, it was considered a desirable goal by the county, the city and the business community. Now it is in the federal traffic route plan, is actually to be implemented and will cost 26 million euros, which the federal government will invest, while the town and community of ahorn will at best have to worry about connecting points. Now the city of coburg no longer wants the four-lane expansion planned. The mayor of ahorn, martin finzel (no party affiliation), can’t understand that. With a corresponding application, he wants to make sure of the support at least in the district council.

"The coburg region has been campaigning for years in a coordinated manner for the implementation of the expansion of federal highway 4 between the sud access road and the frankenbrucke in coburg. The declarations and in some cases unanimous resolutions from 2016 for inclusion in the 2030 federal transport infrastructure plan are examples of this. All those involved were already aware at the time that only a four-lane expansion would make it possible for the road to be included in the federal government’s 256 billion euro investment program, the 2030 federal transport infrastructure plan, finzel writes in the foreword to his proposal.

Joint efforts finally led to the project’s inclusion in the priority needs list. It followed, according to finzel"…In the last few years, a closely interlocked planning phase". The city of coburg, the bamberg state building office and the community of ahorn held several meetings to coordinate planning as well as communication and committee participation. The new decision situation in the town surprises the mayor of ahorn: "it therefore seems all the more surprising that, with regard to the expansion of the federal highway, all the agreements reached with the municipality of ahorn, the district of coburg and the local economy have been bypassed and the construction project is generally rejected by the youngest town council resolution."

Martin finzel sees the danger that a number of opportunities will be lost as a result. He is convinced that the expansion will improve the living environment of the citizens in the surrounding area. With around 20,000 vehicles a day, the B 4 is already a busy road, he says. The expansion could improve the protection of the larvae. Dangers of the current traffic situation could be reduced. Flooding, which in the past has led to meter-high flooding of the strabe, could be a thing of the past. The regional infrastructure will be optimized by eliminating the bottleneck at weichengereuth, and coburg will be strengthened as a business location.

Commitment of the district

As a member of the coburg district council and mayor of the municipality of ahorn, i continue to regard the unanimous district council resolution from 2016 as a binding basis for action by the district of coburg in matters relating to regional transport routes and infrastructure networks. In particular, due to the importance for the quality of life and living in the entire coburg region and the importance for the coburg economic region, it is necessary to pick up the thread of conversation in a solution-oriented and ideology-free manner.

For this reason, it is requested that the district of coburg once again addresses the issue and expresses its (…) informed about the current state of affairs.

In addition, the district administrator of the county of coburg is asked to actively represent the democratically passed resolution in the current debate and to work towards finding a solution with the city of coburg and the other partners in government offices, chambers of commerce and the regional economy."

Targeted questions

In order to provide the district council with a comprehensive basis of information, martin finzel has attached a list of questions to his motion, which he would like to see completed. According to the report, the committee will first be informed in detail about the current situation. This block includes the decision-making situation of the district committees, the legal classification of the planned expansion and the planning and financing conditions or participation.

Another set of questions concerns the effects on the network function of federal highway 4 for the entire region. For finzel, a look at the city’s current 2006 traffic development plan is one of many points in this complex.

So that his colleagues in the district council know exactly what they are talking about, the existing initial planning by the state building office in bamberg is to be presented and explained to them. For finzel, points such as traffic safety, arm protection, flood protection, and the routing of sidewalks and bike paths are included here.

Finally, the district council is to be informed in detail about the importance of a better developed B 4 for the economy.

In the meantime, representatives of the bavarian ministry of transport presented the plans to the coburg city council and emphasized that, from their point of view, there will be no alternative to the four-lane expansion.