New legal opinion

Lobau Tunnel continues to be put on the back burner

Unfortunately, a familiar sight: traffic jams on the Südosttangente.(Bild: Andi Schiel)

A new legal opinion by an environmental organization sees shortcomings in the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). Without this, the construction of the Lobau Tunnel would contravene EU law. The dispute over the important transport project therefore continues 

The Lobau Tunnel has been officially in the planning stage since 2005. The controversial road project has been the subject of extensive debate and controversy for at least as long. Around 200 million euros have been spent on planning and preparations to date. As is well known, it has not yet been built.

Yet the 8.2-kilometre section, the last part of the north-east bypass around Vienna, is the one that is missing. The so-called "Regionenring" around the city is almost complete and is also urgently needed to guide (transit) traffic past the city. Drivers suffering from traffic jams can tell you a thing or two about it. There is now no traffic report that does not mention the south-east ring road. However, Environment Minister Leonore Gewessler (Greens) turned down the road construction project in 2021.

On Monday, the environmental organization Virus presented a new legal opinion. Tenor: everything is different. The Lobau Tunnel would violate EU law without a strategic environmental assessment (SEA), according to Wolfgang Rehm. In any case, he now sees the cards reshuffled.

The office of Transport Councillor Ulli Sima (SPÖ) has referred the matter to the federal government. The latter is responsible for EIA procedures and strategic environmental assessments. In any case, the City of Vienna remains committed to the mega-project. They argue that the north-east bypass would relieve traffic on the Südosttangente, which is currently used by over 230,000 vehicles every day.