In order to preserve the environment in the long term, Austria’s Climate Protection Minister Leonore Gewessler has canceled a major project to build a motorway near Vienna.
Gewessler announced on Wednesday not only that the almost two billion euro project will not be implemented, but that another expressway will not be built in Lower Austria.
The decisions are the result of the “climate check” of state road construction projects, which the Green Minister decreed last year in order to weigh up economic benefits and effects on the environment.
"I don't want us to say in 20 years 'time: We have buried billions in taxpayers' money and cemented our future in concrete," argued Gewessler.
Almost half of the planned 19 kilometers of motorway north of Vienna would have crossed under a nature reserve as a tunnel.
Experience shows that new roads lead to more traffic, said Gewessler, who is also responsible for mobility.
Climate-damaging CO2 gets into the atmosphere not only through vehicles, but also through construction.
Vienna's mayor Michael Ludwig sharply criticized the move.
"This is a blow to people's quality of life".
It is now to be expected with more traffic jams and exhaust gases.
The last word has not yet been spoken, said the influential social democratic politician.