Westring Gets More Expensive Again

4.7 kilometers of highway will cost 1.3 billion euros

The first phase of the Linz Westring, the Danube Bridge, was opened to traffic just under two years ago.(Bild: Kerschbaummayr Werner)

Rising construction costs, inflation, and changes in legal requirements: After costs had to be revised upward as recently as 2022, it has now been announced that the Linz Westring will become 120 million euros more expensive once again. Some call it a fiasco; others call it an “important project for the future.”

The Linz Westring highway (A26), which will be 4.7 kilometers long when fully completed, will cost even more than planned: Costs are expected to rise by 120 million euros to 1.3 billion euros, as Provincial Transport Minister Günther Steinkellner (FPÖ) and Governor Thomas Stelzer (ÖVP) announced in a press release on Wednesday. The reasons cited include rising construction costs, inflation, and changes in legal requirements.

Asfinag is covering 85 percent of the Westring’s costs—which have now doubled compared to the original estimate—while the state of Upper Austria is paying 10 percent and the city of Linz 5 percent. Despite the steadily rising costs, Stelzer and Steinkellner remain committed to the project: They expect traffic in the Linz metropolitan area to decrease by about eight percent after completion, and commuters to save time. Such “investments in the future can be afforded even in economically difficult times” because the city has “managed its finances well in recent years,” according to Stelzer.

Although the project has been scaled back, costs have risen: 646 million euros in 2011, 743 million in 2020, around 1.18 billion in 2023, and now 1.295 billion euros.

Severin Mayr, Klubobmann Grüne OÖ

Greens Oppose “Blank Check”
The Greens, however, are calling it a “fiasco.” From their perspective, the state is now paying the price for “failing to include a contractual cost cap in the contract and thus having to absorb every price spike.” This “blank check” must go, and the co-financing must be renegotiated, announced parliamentary group leader Severin Mayr, referring to a corresponding motion by his faction. “Just think of all the things we could do for climate-friendly mobility with 1.3 billion euros,” muses mobility spokesperson Dagmar Engl, who criticizes the fact that “we have to fight for every public transit project and beg for every little bike path,” while here “increasingly astronomical sums are being poured into an ancient project.”

Rising Costs
Construction work on the second section began last summer: a tunnel more than three kilometers long through the Freinberg is intended to connect the Donautal Bridge—scheduled to open in late 2024—with the Mühlkreis Autobahn (A7). The two separate tubes—each with two lanes—are scheduled to open to traffic in 2032, along with the Waldeggstraße underpass. The third and final section, including the West Bridge, is scheduled to be completed between 2033 and 2035.

New Regulations for Excavated Material
As for the amended legal requirements, these include, among other things, a planned revision of the regulations governing excavated material, as Andreas Fromm, Managing Director of Asfinag Bau Management GmbH, told the “OÖN.” Asfinag fears that, in the future, a significant portion of the excavated rock will no longer be permitted for reuse if the specified selenium limits are exceeded. Asfinag estimates that this will result in additional costs of around 40 million euros. A further 40 million euros would be attributable to increased construction costs, and 35 million euros would be distributed among smaller items, such as noise protection for nearby residents. More households than anticipated took advantage of the offer to install noise-reducing windows.