The A12/A15 route decision, or the ViA15 project, is final. The Council of State ruled on Wednesday that the A15 motorway may be extended in the Arnhem region. The A12 and A15 may also be widened. This final ruling puts an end to a lengthy legal procedure. After seven years, the route decision is final.
Important connection
The project aims to extend the A15 section from Bemmel to Zevenaar and widen the A15 and A12. The government wants to combat traffic jams and also considers it important for a direct connection between the port of Rotterdam and Germany. However, the new section goes through protected nature reserves, which leads to an increase in nitrogen precipitation. Nature and environmental organizations were against this. Previously there were also objections to the nitrogen research carried out, but the highest administrative court declared them unfounded.
Three interim statements
The project has been with the Council of State since 2017 and there have already been three interim rulings, including new nitrogen calculations. In March this year, the Council of State also deemed the decision not entirely in order. The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management had to provide additional information about the plan to use the nitrogen space of six farms that are going to close down for the construction project (external netting). The Gelderland Nature and Environmental Federation Association had objected to this. On Wednesday, the Council of State ruled that the minister’s further motivation is ‘sufficient’. “The further substantiation shows that nitrogen deposition in the areas has decreased and will continue to decrease in the period up to 2030,” the ruling states, and that was a condition for external netting.
Mixed feelings
Rijkswaterstaat says it understands the mixed feelings of those involved and local residents. Rijkswaterstaat will talk to people who are ‘directly affected’ by the project. Rijkswaterstaat will also communicate via the site and via newsletters. However, the actual implementation of this will still have to wait: the restart requires good preparation, says Rijkswaterstaat.
The province of Gelderland calls the extension of the A15 towards the A12 good news. The deputy for transport and accessibility Klaas Ruitenberg is happy that the province can now move on. ‘The extended A15 and widening of the A12 are desperately needed to make traffic safer, reduce traffic jams and improve air quality. That is good for the people of Gelderland, the regional economy and the national economy.’
Transport and Logistics Netherlands (TLN) calls the extension of the highway ‘great news’. The transport sector expects that the new situation will still have to wait. For example, new negotiations must be held with the consortium of builders responsible for constructing the road, TLN reports. The costs of building materials and personnel have ‘increased significantly’ in recent years.
Drive on
Minister Barry Madlener of Infrastructure and Water Management also calls it ‘fantastic news’. ‘The A15 and A12 are busy roads and the region benefits enormously from us being able to carry out this project. Road users in the Arnhem-Nijmegen region will soon be able to continue driving again,” said Madlener. According to the government, this will help combat traffic jams and create a direct car connection between the port of Rotterdam and Germany.
Extremely disappointed
Natuur en Milieu Gelderland is particularly disappointed. The environmental federation litigated for a long time and remained the only objector. Although the objection procedure has come to an end, Natuur en Milieu Gelderland believes that the entire process has had an impact and has produced results. The Council of State has made various interim rulings in the case that has lasted for years. In addition, ‘our objections have been partly justified’, says Natuur en Milieu Gelderland.
Time and again, other objectors have pointed out ‘inaccuracies and imperfections’ in the plans, which would have constituted violations of national and international legal obligations. ‘We have been vindicated on various points by interim rulings by the Council of State.’ Furthermore, according to the organization, the frameworks that the government must adhere to, such as nitrogen, have become clearer.
According to the environmental organization, none of this would have been necessary if the route had included a tunnel under the area, instead of a road through it. ‘What remains are our concerns about the lack of effective nitrogen policy and acceleration of nature recovery. Only then can we as a society really make progress and put these kinds of decades-long procedures behind us.’
