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Citizens’ alliance wants to stop Westring construction

Citizens’ alliance wants to stop Westring construction
Representatives of the alliance “Future instead of motorway construction” presented details of the referendum.
Image: rgr

“It’s time to say goodbye to a road construction project from the day before yesterday.” This is how you could sum up the tenor of the protagonists for the “Future instead of motorway construction” initiative. A broad alliance of citizens’ movements has collected 95 percent of the signatures on the street over the past year and a half, which now make a municipal referendum possible.

The list of 10,000 supporters was handed over to Municipal Director Ulrike Huemer on Monday, representing Mayor Klaus Luger (SP). “This is a democratic-political milestone,” says Gerald Oberansmayr (Initiative Verkehrswende now!), with which one wants to bring a transport-political milestone on the rails.

Even if work is already underway on the A26, as the station motorway is called, it is not too late to stop this “monstrous misplanning”, which would destroy living space and only exacerbate the traffic jams in Linz given the 30,000 additional car journeys .

Public vote as a signal to everyone

The “Future instead of Autobahn-Bau” alliance still sees room for maneuver because work on the four-kilometer-long Autobahn tunnel towards the main station will not begin until 2024. The bridge with its ascents and descents in the mountain should still be completed, after which Asfinag should say goodbye to the project, according to the demand. The referendum should have a signal effect and show that “the population is more advanced than the Linz city government and the state of Upper Austria,” says Christian Trübenbach (initiative “Protect Linz’s green belt, now”).

The main objective is the co-financing of the city of Linz in the billion-euro project. The text of the referendum reads: “Should the city of Linz stop co-payments and subsidies for motorway projects that run through the city of Linz and instead use the funds for a traffic turnaround in favor of climate- and environmentally friendly mobility?”

Those responsible aim to get around 40,000 signatures in the referendum. The 20 percent bar should be reached and would put the corresponding pressure on those responsible in politics so that there is a necessary rethinking. “We want the politicians to expand the limited tunnel vision,” says Anni Jank (Initiative Verkehrswende now!). She sees money as the key to changing public awareness. With the 50 million euros that the city would pour into the A26 project, a lot could be done for alternative mobility. “That’s 100 times more than the annual cycling budget of the city of Linz.”

“People are aware,” says David Brandstetter, who is involved in the climate movement. It just hasn’t reached politics yet.

Source: Nachrichten

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