“With this bridge, it’s better to have the courage to leave a gap”
Green Members of Parliament visit Breisach and are in favor of improved transport links between Colmar, Breisach and Freiburg? Great! Unfortunately, they only propagate an allegedly necessary railway bridge near Breisach for this purpose. According to the 2019 forecast, this will cost “around 300 million euros”. Do we really have that much money just to connect to a single-track, already overloaded S-Bahn line Breisach-Freiburg? The green group of visitors also came too late because of the congestion on the route – welcome to the club of unnerved commuters!
The road surface of the existing Breisacher bridge has hardly been renovated when it is due to be rebuilt again. Now even to the new railway line. Is there a certain cultural new building in the way of a new railway bridge right next to the road? As a solution, an exchange of functions with a separate new road bridge construction in the south of Breisach is planned. With “green” approval, once across the botany of allotment gardens and the Rhine Forest? Is there still not enough natural area being built over? How much better would a Colmar-Breisach-Freiburg bus connection, well timed and free of charge, be financed from all these millions? Can be implemented quickly and CO2-neutral with the use of hydrogen buses and on-site production of green hydrogen! “Every year matters” says the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): “Every year, every decision, every tenth of a degree of prevented temperature rise counts”! We no longer have time to wait for any Franco-German prestige bridges. Do nature and climate protection – that’s why (green) politicians are elected to governments. To act before “tipping points” have tipped.
We people from Alsace have nothing at all to do with this railway bridge. Even with her, we would still have to use our car or bike to get to the train. An increased switch to public transport is only possible with an improved bus service – and boarding close to home. With this bridge, it’s better to have the courage to leave a gap! Set up a regional fund with the enormous sums saved and finance meaningful Franco-German projects as a model region in energy conversion, climate protection and hospitals. Where else if not in the European city of Breisach! Manfred Harms, Biesheim (Elsass)
LETTERS TO THE BZ
WINTER SERVICE
“Don’t forget: the climate is changing”
Regarding “trouble about winter service in Höllental” in the BZ of February 5th:
The entitlement of Mr. Dold, who seems to expect that his trucks can easily drive through the Höllental without snow chains at any time, even under difficult weather conditions, is annoying. If it weren’t for this faulty planning of a “highway-like” route, it would be a matter of course to drive on the A 5 via Karlsruhe and Stuttgart. This route would benefit the Black Forest and the citizens of Freiburg and is to be supported in principle, because it would also make it necessary to finally complete the A 98 autobahn (Singen-Waldshut). If the tunnel were to be built through Freiburg, the problem would not be reduced, but rather would encourage even more trucks to use the B 31 and would give Mr. Dold reason to continue his criticism over the years. However – do not forget: The climate changes and with it comfort and commodities!Christiane Iken, Freiburg
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LETTERS TO THE BZ
RAIL CONNECTION
“Traffic from road to rail”
Regarding “Chance for closing a gap” in the BZ of January 22nd:
It is commendable that members of the Greens from France, the Bundestag and the state parliament, together with the mayor of Breisach, are warning and demanding the Breisach-Colmar rail connection, and that means above all the construction of a railway bridge – after all, the plans for this have been around for more than 20 years years. And it is far-sighted that the member of the state parliament, Reinhold Pix, points out how the 150 million euros required for this can be obtained: by refraining from building the B 31 West, which is unnecessary and contrary to the goal of the traffic turnaround. In other words, reallocating money from road to rail. But now, Ms. Kopf, Ms. Saint-Cast and Mr. Pix, please think ahead and support your election promise of the traffic turnaround in other areas of the region: for the fact that you can access the motorway tunnel with two full connections (euphemismally called the city tunnel) right through the middle Freiburg does without and puts the more than 600 million euros required for the expansion of the Breisgau S-Bahn and Schwarzwaldbahn into a fast and well-functioning regional train system. Traffic turnaround means not only paving motorways with charging stations, but even more shifting traffic from road to rail.Eggert Blum, Freiburg
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LETTERS TO THE BZ
BUNKER IM RHEINWALD
“Let stand as a memorial and contemporary witness”
Regarding “The end of the bunker is near” in the BZ of January 29th:
We have been in the bunker area every day for many years. We have talked about this building in many conversations with our children and grandchildren, with passers-by and tourists. And now, full of envy and full of melancholy, we have to look across the Rhine to our French friends, who deal with such eyewitnesses in a completely different way. There these monuments are cherished and cared for and used to understand history. And here? There’s this monument in the way.
It is supposed to reduce the outflow cross-section of the intake ditch to the flooding area too much. This gives me the suspicion that a 1.5 kilometer long parallel Rhine is to be built. In my opinion, this brutal clear-cut should form the starting point for the Rhine water to flow into the area and not an additional river. So in this area no river-like flow can arise, which is prevented by the monument. With a little good will it would certainly be possible to divert the floodwaters past this structure without causing any problems.
Actually, flood prevention should be taken in the first place. If the agreed gorge solution is successful in the test, then the ideological flooding is not necessary at all, our animals in the forest have their peace, and mosquito breeding areas certainly do not arise. If, however, not a drop of water is allowed to flow into the gully for five months, as at the intake structure above the culture weir, the gully test has failed. There are specifications as to the discharge volume of the Rhine from which water can be taken at all. Hence my night prayer: God give our Rhine as much water as necessary so that fish and ships can cope with it and as little as possible so that the ideological floods cannot take place. And please leave the bunker as a memorial and contemporary witness. Gerhard Regending, Breisach
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LETTERS TO THE BZ
ABUSE
“They were robbed of their childhood”
Re “Because of child abuse in court” in the BZ of January 28:
Hardly a week goes by without reports of abuse. This illustrates how important the legal decision was not to delete entries in police clearance certificates after just one year. Abused children will – therapy or not – carry the trauma with them throughout their lives, after all they have been robbed of their childhood! Therefore, the level of penalties in cases of abuse cannot be set too high. Dorothea Hiller, Freiburg
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