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In the St. Gallen city parliament, the left is fighting against a feeder road in the center. With a partial success.
The transport policy and the city of St. Gallen – there is resin. The city recently presented a controversial, almost nationwide speed regime of 30 km/h by 2028.
Now the city parliament is following suit, this time it is about a planned motorway connection to the A1 at the freight station in the middle of the city. There should now be a reversal. The city parliament approved a corresponding postulate on Tuesday with 35 to 26 votes.
Wasteland, cultural center, motorway connection?
The area currently offers a small socio-cultural center in containers. With studios, workshops, a restaurant, cultural spaces, places to linger. Next to it, a cycle route leads west from the city center. It used to lie fallow for years.
Legend:
Since 2019, the “Lattich”, a socio-cultural center, has been located on the freight station site in St. Gallen.
Keystone / Gian Ehrenzeller
A project by the Federal Roads Office (Astra), the canton and the city has been planned for years, which envisages a partial link to the freight station. That means: an underground feeder from the A1 from Zurich to the city center. In addition, another tunnel in the direction of Appenzell is intended to shorten the route from the Alpstein to the motorway.
Referendum of 2016 for the connection
The political left has been fighting this for years. “Unnecessary, the location is unsuitable, promotion of even more traffic” are the arguments. In 2016, the city population quite clearly rejected an SP initiative against the motorway connection. But the resistance continued. An association that fought against this was founded.
Legend:
With a gossip against the motorway junction: A few demonstrators gather in front of the St. Gallen Waaghaus before the parliamentary debate.
SRF / David Lendi
On Tuesday afternoon, when the St. Gallen city parliament met in the Waaghaus on the market square for the debate, members of this association, among others, lined up and greeted the parliamentarians with signs advertising the fight against the partial clasp. Perhaps the final tip of the scales.
Heated discussion after the left advance
There were heated debates in Parliament. The SP, GLP and the Greens demanded that the city council withdraw and make it clear to the federal government and the canton that the city did not want a motorway feeder at all. According to GLP parliamentarian Marcel Baur, for example, this was completely out of date: “New roads are not a solution to today’s traffic problems.”
Electric vehicles also need roads.
The bourgeois, namely the center / EPP, the FDP and the SVP did not want to know anything about the planning stop. They based this on the referendum of 2016. The motorway connection is the will of the population and an opportunity to solve the traffic problem. FDP parliamentarian Liliane Kobler: “Mobility is increasing. Electric vehicles also need roads, even if, according to arguments from certain circles, you could see it differently.”
City council must report
After an hour of debate about the sense and nonsense of the motorway connection, the majority of the St. Gallen city parliament declared the postulate for the planning stop to be significant. The city council must now present a report detailing exactly what is planned for the freight depot area.
This is by no means the end of the discussion. The resistance to the project of the Güterbahnhof section is underscored by the vote of the city parliament. Sequel follows.