Lüdenscheid/Hagen (dpa/lnw) - According to a newspaper report, the parliamentary group of the CDU/CSU wants to speed up the construction of the dilapidated A45 bridge near Lüdenscheid with its own draft law. This is reported by the "Westfalenpost" from Hagen, which belongs to the Funke media group (online and Wednesday edition).
According to the newspaper report, the "draft of a law to further accelerate planning and approval procedures for bridges on federal trunk roads" is to be introduced by the Union in the Bundestag next Friday. The Rahmede viaduct will then be closed for exactly one year.
Opposition leader Friedrich Merz (CDU) strongly supports the plans: "If planning and approval procedures for LNG terminals in northern Germany are possible more quickly, this acceleration can certainly also work for roads and bridges throughout Germany," he told the "Westfalenpost". According to the newspaper, Merz wants to get an idea of the major project on site in Lüdenscheid on December 19th.
The draft law provides for a streamlining and acceleration of public procurement law, exemptions for environmental impact assessments and legal certainty in the exemption from a planning approval procedure, it said. "With our proposal, we can save up to two and a half years of planning and approval time," said Florian Müller, the CDU MP responsible for the draft (Olpe district) of the newspaper.
The bridge was originally supposed to be blown up this year, but the date has already been postponed. Volker Wissing's Federal Ministry of Transport (FDP) recently emphasized that the planning and preparatory work for the new construction of the bridge on Germany's important north-south axis was in full swing.
