If you drive to Rüdesheim, you will be reminded by a mighty stone archway at the entrance to the village that there was once a fixed connection with the Hindenburg Bridge over the Rhine.

If the Wehrmacht hadn't blown it up in the last few weeks before the end of the war in 1945, it would probably still span the river today.

The construction of a new bridge, which has been occupying, stirring up and polarizing the region at irregular intervals since then, has no chance of being realized in the foreseeable future.

Oliver Bock

Correspondent for the Rhein-Main-Zeitung for the Rheingau-Taunus-Kreis and for Wiesbaden.

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    Because even the latest advance seems to end in a dead end. The bridge plans were last put on file in 2005 because the nature conservation conflicts seemed insurmountable due to the protected status of the island Rhine. After the laws had been changed in the meantime and citizens had exerted strong political pressure, especially in Rheinhessen, the districts as well as the states of Rhineland-Palatinate and Hesse had agreed to re-examine the chances of the current legal situation on the basis of the plans and reports completed in 2005.

    On behalf of the State Office for Mobility in Worms, a planning office in Herne has now written a 137-page feasibility study.

    For this purpose, the outdated data and surveys were updated and the new legal situation assessed.

    The protected areas already described in 2005 are still legally binding.

    The proportion of legally protected biotopes has increased compared to 2005.

    The rich spectrum of species has now been expanded to include the beaver.

    Conservation more important than a bridge

    As a result, the experts state that the high-quality Rhine landscape near Rüdesheim and Geisenheim has increased in importance since 2005, especially for breeding and resting birds.

    Regardless of whether the bridge was in Rüdesheim or Geisenheim, the protected areas would be severely impaired.

    The experts do not assume that a bridge would be permissible because both the daily use of around 10,000 vehicles and the cost-benefit ratio would be low.

    There is no legal or specialist planning justification for the road connection in relation to the large number of protected areas affected and the "severity of the significant impairments".

    In addition, a “highly efficient ferry connection” represents a “reasonable alternative” to the bridge despite the “traffic cutbacks”. “The planning of a Rhine bridge between Bingen and Rüdesheim does not appear to be approved and would not withstand a judicial review”, it says in the report .

    The value of the nature protection areas outweighs the public interest in a bridge.

    "Weigh up diverse interests"

    That sounds like a fatal blow, but is politically relativized.

    "The hurdles for building the Rhine bridge are high," admits Dorothea Schäfer (CDU), the district administrator of the Mainz-Bingen district.

    Now it is up to the district council to decide whether a regional planning procedure will still be initiated.

    In their opinion, “diverse interests must be weighed”.

    The experts did not examine aspects such as traffic development in the region, the development of the economic area and the associated overriding importance of a bridge.

    The district administrator also refers to the planning community Rheinhessen-Nahe, which has recognized the need for even two bridges between Bingen and Nierstein.

    And the former Rhineland-Palatinate transport minister, Volker Wissing (FDP), stated that a Rhine crossing between Bingen and Rüdesheim was of structural importance from the state's point of view.

    Bridge hope is apparently gone

    The district administrator now sees the parliamentary groups' turn to decide whether a regional planning procedure should nevertheless be initiated in which the other interests beyond nature conservation can also be weighed and assessed.

    She herself thinks that this makes sense and also wants to hold coordination talks with the Rheingau-Taunus district.

    There, however, the hope for a bridge has apparently died out.

    At least in the district committee, which decided at its constituent meeting under the leadership of District Administrator Frank Kilian (independent) at the beginning of the week: "The construction of a Rhine bridge between Rüdesheim and Bingen will not be pursued further." Years ago there was always a political majority in favor of the bridge, which was also vehemently demanded by the Chamber of Commerce and Crafts Chambers.

    The district committee in its new composition also rejected the examination of tunneling under the Rhine as required by the district administrator.

    At most, the chance of a bridge designed for pedestrians and cyclists should still be examined, which the district administrator, however, rates as "inconsistent".

    In addition, the district is to start talks about subsidizing an expanded, closely-timed ferry service also at night. For Kilian, however, it is obvious that the costs should not burden the Rheingau-Taunus district alone. So far there has been talk of several hundred thousand euros per year, which is being demanded by the ferry operators. The discussion in the district council is now going to be exciting. Kilian expects an intensive debate and does not rule out “a possibly different result” than the district committee decided.