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  A Bridge for the Boondocks: Environmentalists Criticize Planned Link from Germany to Denmark

A Bridge for the Boondocks Environmentalists Criticize Planned Link from Germany to Denmark

By Philip Bethge

Part 2: 'An Urgent Need for Research'

Burchard believes there is an "urgent need for research." The Danes, for their part, are taking the critics' warnings seriously. To allay environmental concerns, the government-owned firm charged with the construction, Femern Baelt A/S, is investing large amounts of money in environmental studies. A great deal is at stake for Copenhagen, which sees the crossing as an important stepping stone in the direction of central Europe.

Danish Transportation Minister Lars Barfoed hopes that "a mental bridge" will develop in parallel to the physical one, and sees the bridge construction as a "catalyst for a growth region." The Danes are optimistic, based on their experiences with the Öresund and Storebælt crossings. In both cases, bridge operators noted a rapid rise in traffic after the bridges were opened.

But is the Fehmarn Belt project even comparable? The Öresund Bridge links two major cities, Copenhagen and Malmö, forming a single metropolitan area. The Fehmarn Belt Bridge, on the other hand, would connect two sparsely populated islands in the Baltic Sea.

The Danes expect 7,700 vehicles a day to cross the bridge at first, and 10,300 within five years. The Danish funding model is based on this rapid "jump in traffic," but German experts are skeptical about the numbers. Karlheinz Rössler of Munich consulting firm Vieregg-Rössler believes that the forecasts and the projected toll revenues are "heavily exaggerated."

Rössler recently told the Transportation Committee in the Bundestag that, according to his predictions, only 5,100 motor vehicles and 44 trains would cross the bridge in the initial phase. According to the transportation expert, this would mean that the planned highway and double-track rail line would be operating at only 10 percent of capacity. "In Germany, we don't even build a bypass road for that kind of traffic volume," says Bettina Hagedorn, an SPD member of the Bundestag.

Given these concerns, the German government's hesitation to expand the interior connection comes as no surprise. Currently, a high-speed rail line isn't even planned for the route. The double-track expansion of the rail line between the northern city of Lübeck and Puttgarden has been postponed until 2025. Trains currently travel at low speeds through the Baltic Sea beach resorts of Timmendorfer Strand, Scharbeutz and Sierksdorf, prompting critics to deride the project as "an extended commuter rail connection" to Copenhagen. There is no sign of the much-publicized "Magistrale for Europe" project, which foresees the creation of a high-speed rail network across Europe.

The German Federal Audit Office recently weighed in, criticizing the project for contributing to "substantial uncertainty for future federal budgets" and noting that the costs have been greatly underestimated. According to the agency, the projected €840 million ($1.17 billion) in road and rail construction costs to the German government are likely to more than double, to €1.7 billion. The bridge itself could end up costing more than €8 billion.

Is the treaty nothing but a concession to Denmark? It is impossible that such a mega-project could be promoted purely for reasons of "diplomatic politeness," says conservationist Siegert. To address this issue NABU, the German branch of Friends of the Earth, and other organizations recently filed two complaints with the European Commission. They hope to use legal means to stop the project.

Jürgen Boos of the Action Alliance Against a Fixed Fehmarn Belt Crossing claims that Germany didn't conduct the required European Union-wide bidding process, but instead made sure that the contract would go directly to Femern Baelt A/S. This approach, says Boos, is only allowable if the federal government assumes a portion of the liability. "So far, the government expects the construction to proceed without any significant risks to Germany. This could eventually prove to be a fatal mistake."

Despite all the opposition and inconsistencies, Germany's grand coalition government -- which sees Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) sharing power with its junior partner, the SPD -- will likely rubber-stamp the project. There could be a few renegades, though. Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel of the SPD, for example, summed up his thoughts on the Fehmarn Belt bridge at a 2008 campaign appearance in the Schleswig-Holstein city of Oldenburg:

"A crazy idea."

Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan.

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