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Editor:
Presscouncil City of Chemnitz
Pressrelease: 476

Expansion of Zschopauer Straße begins

Ground-breaking ceremony: 5 September - 20 million euros to be spent - traffic opening planned for the end of 2014

On Wednesday, 5 September, the ground-breaking ceremony for the expansion of Zschopauer Straße (B 174) between Südring and Gornauer Straße will take place. On Monday, 27 August, preparatory work will begin on this section of the B 174, which currently still has two lanes. The section will be widened to four lanes by the beginning of 2015, with traffic opening scheduled for the end of 2014. This will also close the gap in the motorway. Previously, the B 174 between the town centre and Südring had been widened and the Free State, as the responsible developer, is building the section between Gornauer Straße and Amtsberg. The widening is necessary because the road is no longer able to cope with the growing volume of traffic in its current state.

The construction project extends over a length of 908 metres between Südring and Bergfrieden. The four-lane expansion is accompanied by a number of different individual measures. For example, approx. 1420 metres of footpath and cycle path will be created along the route and side roads will be connected. Furthermore, noise barriers with a height of between 4 and 5 metres will be erected along approx. 1.8 kilometres. Extensive sewer work and drainage measures are also being carried out, some of which will have to be carried out at depths of up to 6 metres. This includes rainwater and combined sewers as well as a rainwater retention basin with a volume of around 460 cubic metres. In addition, around 38 kilometres of cables and protective pipes as well as around 3 kilometres of drinking water pipes and 2 kilometres of gas pipes will be laid.

The implementation planning and preparations for the Europe-wide invitation to tender for the first construction phase were already finalised in the spring of this year. Site clearance work also began in January and has now also been completed.

As no efficient diversion route is available for this construction project, all construction work must be carried out in such a way that traffic can pass the construction site in two lanes without major restrictions.

The ground-breaking ceremony will take place on 5 September at 11:00 a.m. at the site of the future rainwater retention basin on Zschopauer Straße (site plan attached).

The total cost of the construction project is around 20 million euros. In a resolution passed on 2 July 2012, the city council allocated a total of 17.9 million euros to the Chemnitz city budget for the years 2012-2015. Of this amount, 12.7 million euros are earmarked for subsidies and 5.2 million euros as the city's share. This year alone, 2.7 million euros will be spent.

The B 174 federal road leads from the border of the Czech Republic to Chemnitz and carries considerable amounts of traffic, particularly in the city. Up to 25,000 vehicles per day currently use this route. Forecasts predict that this figure will rise to around 34,000 vehicles per day by 2015. The main reason for this is the opening of the Reitzenhain border crossing for all types of inter-regional traffic. The current two-lane Zschopauer Straße is no longer able to cope with this volume of traffic, especially as a large number of property access roads impair the flow of traffic.

Parallel to the construction project, the federal government is also widening the B 174 between Chemnitz and Gornau.