The doubling of the E233 motorway in Germany is one step closer. German Transport Minister Volker Wissing has approved the widening of the ‘extended A37’. And Ondernemend Emmen is very happy about that.
“We are now seeing the first spade in the ground approaching really fast,” says Herman Idema, director of Ondernemend Emmen. On behalf of the entrepreneurs, his organization has long argued for a better connection from Emmen to Cloppenburg and beyond. The plea is supported by Minister Harbers. In February, Harbers now wrote in a letter that he would inquire with his German colleague Wissing about the doubling of the road section between Meppen and Cloppenburg.
The highway that starts in the Netherlands as A37 will also be connected to the German highways A1 to Bremen and the A29. And with that, a world opens up for the Emmer entrepreneurs, they expect. If at least the last hurdle is taken well.
“There is now one procedure that still has to be completed, the Planfeststellungsverfahren. In that procedure, simply put, interested parties can once again tell what they think of the plans. And in the end they can still go to the highest German court when they disagree,” said Herman Idema. There are seven stretches of highway in the route of more than eighty kilometers for which this procedure applies. The proceedings are already underway for two complex pieces, and Idema believes they will be completed within a year.
For Emmen it is therefore an important highway and, according to Idema, it is very good that things are now moving forward. “Because then before 2030 the region can benefit economically, but also touristically, for example, from a completely renewed route to Scandinavia and back.”
If all plans have been realized, the travel time to Copenhagen or Malmö will be considerably shorter. “The builders of the new tunnel between Germany and Denmark under the Fehmarnbelt are now making great strides, so that the tunnel for rail and road traffic will be ready by 2029. Together with a doubled E233, you will be at least two hours per car during rush hour. hours faster in Copenhagen and Malmö. And closer to home: Hamburg and Bremen are suddenly 45 minutes closer. As a region, we can benefit from that.”