Vienna expands bike infrastructure – 20 km for 2023
The big highlights of the project are two cycling highways, one leading to Lower Austria in the south and another leading to Donaustadt
Benny Engelbrecht, Danish Transport Minister and Bernd Buchholz, Transport Minister in Schleswig-Holstein , Source: Olaf Malzahn via Femern A/S
The underwater tunnel between Germany and Denmark will be a game-changer for Scandinavia, bringing it closer to central Europe
Today, one of the largest infrastructure projects in the European Union to date broke ground on the German island of Fehmarn. The project – an 18-kilometre-long underwater tunnel linking Germany and Denmark, has been in the works for some years now and will end up costing around 10 billion euros.
The ceremony was attended by the Schleswig-Holstein Transport Minister Bernd Buchholz and the Danish Transport Minister Benny Engelbrecht. The development will prove quite challenging, though and preparation works on the German and Danish sides have been underway since the start of 2021. The end date for the tunnel is set in 2029.
One of the most impressive features of the Fehmarn tunnel is a two-way electrified railway line, in addition to the six-car lanes. It will run from the German island of Fehmarn, near the town of Puttgarden to the Danish Rødbyhavn on Lolland island.
After the massive project is completed, a train ride from Hamburg to Copenhagen should take under three hours, compared to just under five hours now. Furthermore, the project is part of the EU’s overarching transport vision for the Scandinavian-Mediterranean corridor.
The corridor starts at the southern tip of Italy and finishes in Helsinki, passing through all of the Scandinavian capitals. This initiative should help to further integration and bring the northernmost parts of the bloc closer to the centre.
Cars will need just 10 minutes to pass through the tunnel at a speed limit of 110 kilometres per hour, while trains will be limited to 200 km/h and will need a total of 7 minutes. The whole tunnel will be constructed using 79 pre-fabricated pieces.
The project costs the Danish government 7.1 billion euros and another 3.5 billion for the German one. According to preliminary analysis, the tunnel should have paid for itself by generating cumulative income in less than 30 years.
After the construction started a nature protection organisation called Nabu filed a lawsuit against the project, as the planned route passed through 36 hectares of reefs that will inevitably be destroyed. The courts gave the go-ahead nevertheless.
According to the project's website, around 15 million cubic meters of sand and soil will be dredged from the seabed. Some of the material will be used for the construction, another portion will be used for the creation of new natural and recreation areas, in an attempt to offset the damage.
This is evident from the Regional Competitive Index (RCI) published by the European Commission
It’s unclear when it will reopen
While the new health policy will fund the morning-after pill and various progesterone treatments, it will not cover condoms
City officials found that simple messages about respecting residents’ sleep were most effective if coupled with the right presentation
The city has a strategy of putting 10,000 human-controlled and autonomous shuttles on the streets by 2030
Last week, the Chinese app was banned for Belgian federal employees for an initial period of six months
These were the original carriages used when the Polish capital’s subway was launched in 1995
The heritage district has four times less verdant spaces per person than the rest of the Basque capital
The city has learned a lot from an ongoing project for a solar roof on the Altonaer Museum
These were the original carriages used when the Polish capital’s subway was launched in 1995
Social inclusion through gastronomy in one of Italy’s most dangerous neighbourhoods
It’s unclear when it will reopen
The new itineraries are part of the DiscoverEU programme, which lets 18-year-olds travel by train between important European sites
The European Commission has published its first progress report charting the achievements of the socio-cultural movement that combines beauty, inclusion and sustainability
The 2023 edition of the creative initiative promises to be bigger, bolder and more inclusive
A talk with the head of Mission Zero Academy on the benefits for municipalities if they go the zero waste way
A talk with Nicolae Urs, one of the key figures behind the city's new data platforms and online services strategy
Veni Markovski’s take on dealing with disinformation in the European Union's poorest country – Bulgaria