About municipal land

Dispute over Lueg Bridge: Now expropriation is imminent!

The Republic has now taken a further step towards the expropriation of land belonging to the neighboring community of Gries am Brenner for the planned and controversial general renovation of the Lueg Bridge on the Tyrolean Brenner freeway (A13).

A corresponding decision was issued by the federal highway authority on Thursday, according to the state of Tyrol. This can now be appealed against before the provincial administrative court within four weeks.

No information on the amount of compensation
The final decision has now been delivered in writing and, in addition to "granting the requested compulsory rights (ownership, easement and temporary use during the construction phase), also includes the legally stipulated award of compensation for the respective property encroachments based on the appraisal reports of the official experts consulted", it was also stated. No details were given about the amount of compensation.

It is apparently about 2.1 hectares of land
The basis for the expropriation was the already legally binding route approval decision for the general renovation of the bridge. Asfinag always argued that the land was needed for the construction project. According to reports, around 2.1 hectares of land are involved, a third of which is intended for temporary use.

(Bild: Birbaumer Christof)

At an oral hearing in June, no agreement could be reached between Asfinag and the municipality of Gries am Brenner. The provincial department for traffic and cable car law was involved in the proceedings as the responsible federal road authority in the course of indirect federal administration.

Municipality in favor of tunnel solution
The neighboring community of Gries am Brenner had always vehemently opposed a general renovation of the bridge and wanted a tunnel to be implemented. Mayor Karl Mühlsteiger had recently said that he did not want to cede the land that had now been expropriated by the official decision, as it would be needed. He was annoyed by Asfinag's ongoing "drive-over policy".

Single lane from the beginning of 2025
The highway operator had only announced this week that traffic over the Lueg Bridge would be single-lane in both directions from the beginning of 2025. The new construction will then "very probably" begin in spring. The first bridge structure is expected to be completed "at the end of 2027". Only then will two lanes in each direction be available again.

The entire bridge is then expected to be completed in 2030. A total of 300 million euros is to be invested.