Linkenmühlenbrücke: Taxpayers' Association warns of millions wasted

The Left Mill Bridge on the Hohenwarte Reservoir is expected to cost 12.4 million euros. In its current "black book", the Taxpayers' Association warns against waste, because the bridge is initially hardly usable for car traffic. The counties are holding out against it. From MDR THURINGIA The Thuringian Federation of Taxpayers criticises a bridge construction project at the Hohenwarte reservoir in East Thuringia, which threatens to waste millions of euros in taxpayers' money.

The Thuringian case of the Linkenmühlenbrücke was included in the new "Schwarzbuch 2026/27" of the Lobby Association, which lists examples of careless handling of taxpayers' money in Germany. According to the association, the districts of Saalfeld-Rudolstadt and Saale-Orla-Kreis actually wanted to build a road bridge on the large reservoir - but there was only funding for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge with limited traffic. Detour for tourists and commuters The accusation: "Except for some residents, the new bridge would be closed to general motor vehicle traffic. Tourists and commuters would have to drive 35 kilometres around the reservoir, as the existing ferry traffic would have to be discontinued at the same time." The costs amounted to 12.4 million euros.

A spokesman for the district office of the Saale-Orla district described the criticism of the project as excessive. The planned bridge, which should receive around seven million euros in funding from the federal government and more than four million euros from the countryside, is not only planned for cyclists and pedestrians, but also for public transport and emergency services. He conceded that the limitation to local traffic was not optimal. Kreis wants to expand possibilities of use However, there are renegotiations to expand the possibilities of use, which are currently limited by the funding rules.

Both district days had approved the project by a majority. "Of course, a road bridge would have been nicer." However, no financing option was found for this. The spokesman for the district office confirmed that Thuringia's only car ferry with the bridge project should be discontinued.

The ferry is already only in operation during the season and only if the water level allows it. This is currently not the case. Car ferry often used so far "From our point of view, the bridge in this form is meaningless," said Grit Haucke from the Federation of Taxpayers in Thuringia. The project, for which construction is scheduled to start next year, is at risk of wasting taxpayers' money.

According to the German Taxpayers' Association, around 11,000 motorised tourists and residents use the car ferry every year to reach the shore, which is 200 metres away. In order to be eligible for funding, the districts would have undertaken to use the bridge over a period of 25 years only as a cycle path and pedestrian bridge with a special permit for the current 289 residents of two municipalities as well as buses and rescue vehicles. The Federation of Taxpayers is a private association that is politically committed, among other things, to the efficient use of taxpayers' money and sound public finances, in other words, to questioning the new indebtedness and expenditures of the federal government. The Taxpayers' Association emphasizes that it is politically neutral, but its black book is controversial.

MDR/dpa (gh)