Fürstenfeld expressway

Expressway S7 in Austria
map
 Under construction     In planning
Basic data
Operator:
Start of the street:	Riegersdorf ( 47 ° 6 ′  N , 15 ° 59 ′  E )
End of street:	Heiligenkreuz im Lafnitztal ( 46 ° 59 ′  N , 16 ° 17 ′  E )
Overall length:	28 km
of which under construction:	15 km
of which in planning:	13 km
State :	Styria Burgenland
Development condition:	Start of construction in 2018
Start of construction at the future Riegersdorf node
Course of the road State of Styria Riegersdorf   Underfloor route Speltenbach ( 1.000 m ) Fürstenfeld Thermenbahn Lafnitz Province of Burgenland Rudersdorf Rudersdorf tunnel ( 2,900 m ) Königsdorf underground route ( 630 m ) Königsdorf / Eltendorf Heiligenkreuz in the Lafnitz valley Austria – Hungary border crossing On to  Budapest  Under construction In planning Section Control Traffic control system  Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap map

The Fürstenfeld expressway S 7 is an expressway under construction in Austria and part of the Europastraße 66 . It is intended to connect the greater Graz and Budapest areas and relieve the existing Fürstenfelder Straße B 319 from transit traffic. The S 7 will run from the Riegersdorf junction on the A 2 south motorway via Fürstenfeld to the Hungarian border at Heiligenkreuz , where it will merge with the M8 Hungarian motorway .

The S 7 at a glance

The overall project was budgeted at around 630 million euros in 2016 and should be implemented between 2016 and 2023. In 2019, ASFINAG named costs of around 700 million euros.

West section

In the Riegersdorf - Fürstenfeld section, the planned route runs north of the existing B 319 through a forest, partly in a tunnel or as an underground route. The Fürstenfeld junction is planned north of Speltenbach . The S 7 will then cross the Thermenbahn and Lafnitz .

This is followed by the Rudersdorf junction and an approximately three-kilometer-long tunnel that bypasses Rudersdorf to the northeast. Until the completion of the eastern section, the S 7 will flow into the existing Fürstenfelder Strasse east of Rudersdorf with a provisional connection . The construction of this section was planned between 2015 and 2021. Construction work began in June 2018. The cost of this section is expected to be 488 million euros.

East section

After crossing the Güssinger Straße B 57, where a junction will also be built, the S 7 leads south of the B 319, sometimes only 200 m away to the residential areas, and north of the Lafnitz to the Hungarian border at Heiligenkreuz, where there is also a junction it's planned.

Project status

Riegersdorf junction S7 - A2

Lafnitz bascule bridge

Rudersdorf tunnel

While the EIA procedure was still in progress for the east section , the start of construction for the west section was planned for spring 2013. In November 2012, ASFINAG began to carry out felling along the planned route. This logging work was temporarily stopped on November 24, 2012 due to a formal error.

In December 2012, ASFINAG also had archaeological excavations carried out near Königsdorf. Many ceramic parts from the Neolithic Age were found. Based on these finds, archaeologists suspect one of the oldest village settlements in Burgenland from a period 4000 BC.

Due to a procedural error at the EIA, it had to be rolled out again, so that the start of construction had to be postponed to autumn 2013 at the earliest. According to reports and changes in the instances of the EIA, as of March 2014, construction was not yet foreseeable. In February 2015, the EIA was finally concluded positively and the start of construction for the first half of 2015 for the west and for the first half of 2016 for the east section, each with the traffic opening in 2021, announced.

As of April 2017, ASFINAG had planned to build a construction road. On April 20, 2017, the Administrative Court overturned the water rights rulings and the start of construction was expected to be delayed by up to a year. because the required environmental impact assessment decision was available at the time the notices were issued. Construction started in June 2018.

Three parts of the west section have been under construction since January 2019:

• the Riegersdorf junction as a new junction of the S 7 to the A 2,
• the bascule bridges over Lahnbach and Lafnitz,
• the Rudersdorf tunnel.

ASFINAG announced in March 2019 that the Fürstenfeld expressway, including the east section, which should begin construction in 2020, will be completed by the end of 2023 . ASFINAG named investments totaling almost 700 million euros.

Traffic figures

At Fürstenfeld, an annual average daily traffic on the B 319 of 12,800 vehicles (heavy traffic share: 13%) on the cross-section between Altenmarkt near Fürstenfeld and the intersection with the L 401 and 13,300 vehicles (heavy traffic share 14%) on the cross-section between the confluence of the L 207 and the state border Styria / Burgenland determined. At the A 2 junction in Ilz-Fürstenfeld, the annual average daily traffic was 12,800 vehicles (heavy traffic share 16%). Lower values ​​were determined at the cross-sections in Burgenland: At the Heiligenkreuz border crossing, an annual average daily traffic of 4,375 vehicles per 24 hours was measured in 2010, of which 720 were truck-like vehicles (trucks> 3.5 t, articulated trucks and trucks, cars with trailers and Buses).

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

In the area around Fürstenfeld there is a regional traffic problem (18,500 vehicles) due to the central location function as the largest city in the Hartberg-Fürstenfeld district . Accordingly, the volume of traffic is falling both in the direction of the A2 motorway (Großwilfersdorf approx. 15,000 vehicles, 2,000 of which are trucks) and in the direction of the Hungarian border near Heiligenkreuz. Only in the years immediately after the fall of the “Iron Curtain” was there a temporary peak in traffic with around 9,000 vehicles crossing the border. As of 1993, the frequency via Heiligenkreuz has stabilized at the said values ​​for both cars and trucks.

Compared to 2008, traffic on the B 319 has decreased by 15%, according to the “Future Instead of Motorway” initiative.

The traffic forecasts of the ASFINAG motorway company, on the other hand, assume that without the construction of the S 7 and without the implementation of other traffic-directing measures (so-called "zero variant") the traffic load at Großwilfersdorf in 2020 will be around 22,000 vehicles (including around 5,000 trucks) could. According to these calculations, the volume of traffic at the Heiligenkreuz border crossing would be around 10,000 vehicles per day in 2020. If the S 7 were to be built, the traffic load within the towns along the B 319 would be roughly halved, according to ASFINAG estimates. The same studies also forecast an increase in total traffic in the valley area due to the construction of the S 7.

According to a press release by ASFINAG from 2012, around 22,000 cars and trucks would be driving through Großwilfersdorf in 2025 in the so-called “zero variant”. A shift is taking place through the expressway; through the local area, only 6,000 vehicles per day are forecast.

ASFINAG's traffic forecasts are partly controversial, as the previous development does not confirm the forecast trend.

62% of the car traffic at the height of Fürstenfeld comes from the former Fürstenfeld district itself or from its neighboring districts, 25% from the rest of Austria. Only 13% of the trips come from abroad. A third of truck traffic comes from the former Fürstenfeld district and the neighboring districts, another third is domestic truck traffic and only a third comes from abroad. These censuses also show the central and star-shaped traffic distribution around the central town of Fürstenfeld.

Citizens' initiatives & communities

This article or the following section is not adequately provided with supporting documents ( e.g. individual evidence ). Information without sufficient evidence could be removed soon. Please help Wikipedia by researching the information and including good evidence.

The citizens' initiative "Alliance against the S 7" is fighting against the planned construction of the expressway.

Several municipalities have voted against the plans proposed by ASFINAG in a referendum . The Burgenland town of Königsdorf was the first municipality to speak out against the planned expressway on April 3, 2005. While about 78% voted (investment: 75.5%) against the S 7. In referenda on 13 November 2005 voted German Minihof 71% (stake: 54%) and Walldorf 83% (43% participation) against the S 7 On April 24, 2005 in Deutsch Kaltenbrunn, 82% voted against the route at hand (participation: 65%). In Poppendorf in Burgenland , the majority of those who voted supported the route at hand (56%, 65% participation).

In a referendum in the Styrian community of Hainersdorf on December 18, 2005, 57.81% of the valid votes were in favor of building the S 7 (participation: 55.7%). While a majority (90 to 24 votes, participation 47.6%) in the district of Hainersdorf was in favor of the construction of the S 7, the residents of Riegersdorf voted directly at the planned node A 2 / S 7 (69 to 61 votes, participation 68, 6%) and Obgrün (34 to 23 votes, participation 51.4%) against the construction of the S 7. On December 16, 2005, the Fürstenfeld municipal council, with the votes of the ÖVP and the BZÖ , rejected an earlier decision and no S 7 on the Fürstenfelder Hotter, consent to the northern variant via Fürstenfelder municipality area. The planned route now runs through the Fürstenfeld waste management center, which had to be relocated.

Arguments for and against the S 7

Parts of the population do not see the construction as necessary, as other measures would lead to a faster, cheaper and more effective relief of the current federal highway. These include, for example, no-night driving bans for trucks, the re-erection of the weighbridge at the Heiligenkreuz border crossing, at least one southern bypass for Großwilfersdorf, and the modification of the current traffic control concept.

In the late summer of 2008 the Slovenian A5 motorway was opened, which leads from Maribor via Murska Sobota to Budapest as the M70 / M7 . This will probably lead to a slight reduction in traffic on Fürstenfelder Straße.

Proponents of regional traffic solutions argue with the star-shaped traffic flows around the central town of Fürstenfeld: Well-known traffic planners (e.g. Prof. Hermann Knoflacher at an event in the Fürstenfelder Stadthalle in April 2004) doubt that a linear S 7 for a star-shaped problem can offer a solution. In return, it is feared that an east-west transit route will be opened on the Hungarian side , especially after the expansion of the M8 , which would trigger an avalanche of traffic just by closing the international gap. According to S 7 opponents, this would lead to severe losses in the quality of living and natural areas in the relatively narrow valleys of Lafnitz (European model river) and Feistritz and thus to serious disadvantages for regional development.

Proponents of the S 7, on the other hand, consider the construction of the S 7 to be a relief for the population. Especially after the completion of the Hungarian M8, according to the proponents, more traffic will flow over the B 319.

Proponents often argue that an efficient transport link would have a positive impact on the region's economic development. Studies of other regions in Austria, however, show the opposite trend. Wherever large areas were connected by high-level road networks, an economic deterioration in favor of the centers could be demonstrated in the rural areas in between ( cluster formation ). According to a survey carried out by opponents of the motorway among around 100 regional businesses in the Lafnitz and Feistritz valleys, a clear majority sees only disadvantages in the construction of the S 7.

Remarks

1. ↑ the year 2005 is mentioned in the headline of the source, the methodological explanations in the source, however, refer to censuses in Burgenland from 2007, so that 2010 should be meant.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} ASFINAG S 7 Fürstenfelder Schnellstraße ( memento of the original from October 14, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 14, 2015  
2. ↑ Overview of the completion of the S7 , accessed on October 25, 2016.
3. ↑ ^{a b} [1] , accessed on January 26, 2019
4. ↑ Complaints against construction of S7 rejected October 25, 2016, accessed October 25, 2016.
5. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/hartberg-fuerstenfeld/c-lokales/fuerstenfelder-schnellstrasse-vorarbeiten-fuer-die-s-7-laufen_a2667647
6. ↑ Construction freeze S7: start of construction delayed - burgenland.ORF.at. Retrieved May 5, 2017 . 
7. ↑ Start of construction for S7 delayed ; burgenland.orf.at (November 24, 2012), last accessed on January 1, 2013
8. ↑ excavations could delay S7 ; burgenland.orf.at (December 16, 2012), last accessed on December 16, 2012
9. ↑ ASFINAG- S 7 Fürstenfelder Schnellstraße (official project page) ( Memento of the original from February 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
10. ↑ Further delay in the start of construction of the S7 , accessed on March 26, 2014.
11. ^ "Green light" for the S7 , verkehr.steiermark.at of February 18, 2015, accessed on October 19, 2015
12. ↑ Kleine Zeitung 2017-12-25: Animation S7 www.vimeo.com. Retrieved December 25, 2017 . 
13. ↑ Construction freeze S7: start of construction delayed - burgenland.ORF.at. Retrieved May 5, 2017 . 
14. ↑ https://www.mein Bezirk.at/hartberg-fuerstenfeld/c-lokales/s-7-fuerstenfelder-schnellstrasse-das-passiert-noch-in-diesem-jahr_a2861255
15. ↑ ^{a b} ASFINAG is investing 267 million euros in Styria , press release, accessed on March 23, 2019.
16. ↑ Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (ed.): Evaluation of the 2010 road traffic census on motorways, expressways and state roads B , p. 45, accessed on May 31, 2014.
17. ↑ Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (ed.): Evaluation of the 2010 road traffic census on motorways, expressways and state roads B , p. 21, accessed on May 31, 2014.
18. ↑ Homepage of the "Alliance against the S 7"

Web links

Commons : Fürstenfelder Schnellstraße  - Collection of images

• Official project description from the Ministry of Transport
• ASFINAG project description page
• Alliance against the S7: Citizens' initiative for local transport solutions
• Citizens' initiative Riegersdorf without S7