The two wild bridges over the Autobahn 7, which are being built as part of the six-lane expansion, cost a total of around ten million euros. The project is controversial.
The head of the Gandersheim division of the state authority for road construction and traffic, Udo Othmar, informed the HNA of the costs on request. He and the head of the building and environment department of the Northeim district, Ralf Buberti, defended the investment.
They were also responding to a request made by CDU district council member Carl-Christian von Plate Stralenheim at the most recent district council meeting. He wanted to know from the district administration how much the two bridges had cost and generally questioned the need for this investment as disproportionate.
According to his written request, all kinds of animals can get from one side of the motorway to the other via countless existing bridges, underpasses, frame openings and pipes. The tracks in the soft ground or in the snow indicate which animals are involved: fox, rabbit, badger, raccoon, but also deer and wild boar.
Buberti takes a completely different view of this: he counters that the A 7 is an almost insurmountable barrier that has so far only allowed animals to change sides at a few passages or bridges. According to him, it is important for genetic exchange that animals can cross the freeway.
In the planning approval process for the motorway expansion, the Wildbrücken locations near Hillerse and on the Harzhorn were selected because there are forest areas in the immediate vicinity that provide cover for migrating animals.
"As a "transit district", the district of Northeim is very important for the migration and thus the genetic exchange of rare animal species, including the wildcat," emphasized Buberti. According to him, the wild bridges are set up on important connecting corridors on which the animals are on the move.
Use should be checked
Wild cats, lynx and adders, but also hares, foxes, badgers, red and roe deer and deer should primarily use the wild bridges, according to the district head of the environmental department. After completion, it will be checked for 15 years how much they are used by the animals. According to Udo Othmer, experiences with the wild bridge between Roringen and Waake over the B 27 have shown that the animals accept them.
The wildlife bridges, which are to span the Autobahn 7 near Hillerse and on the Harzhorn, are planned to be at least 50 meters wide - and thus almost four times as wide as for a two-lane road. Such a width is necessary so that they are also accepted by deer, for example. The bridges will also be planted with bushes and shrubs and provided with walls on the outside.
More wild bridges along the A7
Both the bridge at Hillerse and the one on the Harzhorn and thus directly on the district border with the district of Goslar are to be completed this year. 30 kilometers further north between Bockenem and the Salzgitter triangle there is already a green bridge for animals.
German Newspaper HNA (
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