A14 expansion: delays until 2030 – Elbe bridge with Eiffel Tower steel!

A14 expansion: delays until 2030 – Elbe bridge with Eiffel Tower steel!

The A14 motorway will turn out to be a truly mammoth project! Holger Behrmann, overall project manager for the A14 at the German Unity Trunk Road Planning and Construction Society (Deges), has the explosive news: the section from Osterburg to Seehausen will not be completed before 2030. Although Deges has been officially responsible for this section since autumn 2022, the challenges are enormous and time is of the essence!

Autobahn GmbH, founded on September 13, 2018, has taken the planning and construction of German highways into its own hands. But the reality is different! Before the excavators can start rolling, ecological compensation measures must first be implemented, which entail a waiting period of two years. This includes hanging bird boxes and laying a pipeline to the Leuna oil refinery, which can only be started after the next overhaul in autumn 2025. The archaeological work is also still pending - a real bureaucratic labyrinth!

Steel giant above the Elbe

But not everything is going smoothly! The Elbe bridge between Seehausen and Wittenberge is taking shape. Project manager Kathrin Fiedler von der Deges proudly reports: “We have completed around 300 meters of the bridge!” With a total length of 412 meters, the bridge is built with over 8,800 tons of steel - that's more than the Eiffel Tower! For two and a half years, the individual parts have been pushed across the Elbe using an innovative sliding technology. An impressive building that will connect the region!

While preparations for the Osterburg – Seehausen section are stalled, Autobahn GmbH plans to complete the upstream section Stendal – Osterburg by 2028. This section, which leads from the B188 to the Osterburg junction, will have long since been released by then. The A14 remains a topic that heats up people's tempers and tests the patience of drivers!