The A26 East project is shaky

It was an odd discussion Monday night at the Patriotic Society. As an introduction to the event, which was well attended by around 100 citizens, an employee of the environmental organization BUND made a well-structured plea against the construction of the A26 East. The planned connection between the A1 and A7, which is around ten kilometers long, is probably the equivalent of around two billion euros per kilometer, and not only the most expensive German motorway project. It also destroys around 40 hectares of valuable peat soil that could be converted back into moors, it affects species protection and contradicts Hamburg's climate protection strategy.

On the podium, three people then argued against the A26 Ost and only one person for it. Malte Siegert, chairman of the environmental protection organization Nabu, the transport scientist Philine Gaffron from the Technical University of Hamburg and the SPD member of the Bundestag Bettina Hagedorn explained why this new building should not come or is not realistic. Only Gunther Bonz, the former Economics State Councilor and current President of the Hamburg Port Business Association (UVHH), explained why the Hamburg transport system had to be supplemented by the A26 East.

In terms of content, Hagedorn's statements were new and quite surprising. The SPD politician from Ostholstein has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2002. She is currently deputy chairwoman of the important budget committee. From 2018 to 2021, Hagedorn was Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Minister of Finance, who at the time was the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD). Even before 2018, Hagedorn sat on the Budget Committee of the Bundestag.

First of all, Hagedorn specifically attacked the road traffic policy of Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing head-on. The SPD currently governs Berlin together with the Greens and FDP in a traffic light coalition. "Wissing only has a limited ability to learn," said Hagedorn on the Minister's proposals for an extension of the running times for combustion engines in Europe, against a speed limit in Germany and for the further construction of motorways in this country. "Of course, you shouldn't prioritize new motorway construction," said Hagedorn, also with a view to the coalition dispute between the Greens and the FDP. In addition to railways, the FDP also wants to build new motorways, while the Greens want new construction to focus on rail.

In Hamburg, in their coalition government renewed in 2021, they had clearly spoken out in favor of the construction of the A26 East. At the federal level, the SPD's position on motorway construction is less clear than that of the FDP and the Greens. However, Hagedorn made an exception here: "If we, as Germany, want to continue our aid for Ukraine in the coming years, we have to start cutting other projects, otherwise the necessary money will not be available." The Berlin coalition also "strictly review" because of the sharp cost increases in the construction projects. There is no prior determination by the federal government on the construction of the A26 East. “The coalition agreement was signed before the Ukraine war began. We have to clearly prioritize new transport projects – what do we really need in the next 20 or 30 years?”

Hagedorn does not necessarily represent the majority opinion in the SPD on large transport projects. In Ostholstein and at federal level, she has been fighting for years against the construction of the fixed link across the Fehmarnbelt between Denmark and Germany and its inland connection by road and rail via the island of Fehmarn and through Schleswig-Holstein. Since 2008 there has been a state contract between Denmark and Germany for the construction of this European long-distance route. For the state governments in Schleswig-Holstein, the construction of the new rapid transit line, which is also intended to connect the metropolitan regions of Hamburg and Copenhagen, has always been a top priority, both under the leadership of the SPD and – currently – the CDU.

However, the question of financing could become a relevant factor for the construction of the A26 East. According to the federal government's concepts, the road is to become part of a large-scale motorway ring around Hamburg - in the west it is to connect to the A26 West, which is already under construction, in the east to the A1 and thus also to the "coastal motorway" A20 and the future Fehmarnbelt crossing . The A20, in turn, is to be extended to Glückstadt and continued to Lower Saxony with a new Elbe tunnel to be built - where it will again meet an extended A26. However, it is also completely unclear whether the federal government will ever realize these projects.

In Hamburg there is also a dispute about a new crossing of the Köhlbrand, which also requires considerable federal funds. According to information from an anonymous source in the Hamburg media, just crossing the tunnel under the Köhlbrand as a replacement for the decrepit Köhlbrand Bridge could cost up to five billion euros. Nabu and BUND are calling for the Köhlbrand crossing to also be expanded as the future main connection between the A1 and A7, and in the course of this to be dispensed with on the A26 East. Many Green politicians in Hamburg now also tend to share this opinion, such as Environment Senator Jens Kerstan. However, the Greens actually “invented” the plans for today's A26 Ost in the coalition negotiations between the CDU and the Greens in Hamburg in 2008. The originator of this concept is Anja Hajduk, the former Hamburg Senator for Urban Development and the Environment, who now works as a civil servant in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, which is led by Robert Habeck (Greens).