The currently proposed route for the new Brno-Vienna motorway via Mikulov and Drasenhofen, promoted by the Austrian and Czech governments, has the potential to become the most expensive and environmentally destructive way to link these two major central European cities.

The motorway is planned to be realized by the construction of the R52 expressway in Czech Republic and the A5 motorway in Austria and their connection at the state borders. But current official data shows that from a capacity perspective there's no point in building a motorway connection between the two cities. According to expert studies ordered by the Czech Roads and Motorways Directorate in 2006 and 2008, the Brno-Vienna connection is not economically viable in any of the assessed variants. 

Variants for the motorway section on Czech territory

(The maps below show only an approximate routing based on current infrastructure.)

So far, no conclusive evidence for the necessity and financial feasibility of any of the two variants has been produced. Notwithstanding, both variants were planned to be constructed - apparently due to the lobbying of land owners around the planned construction site. This at least suggests a quote from then prime minister Mirek Topolanek in the Czech parliament in June 2009:

"A decision on the motorway you are asking about was taken by the government on the 9th of June this year after very complicated negotiations. At the end, both lobby groups will be satisfied. First, the one which has bought land under Mikulov as well as the second that bought land under Breclav"

Skepticism by public institutions and opposition by local civil society in both countries

The respective sections of the A5 motorway and the R52 expressway are the subject of serious local opposition, with legal complaints already underway in both countries. Deficiencies in the project promotion are numerous. In November 2009, the Supreme Czech  Administrative Court ruled against a Regional Land-Use Plan that included the proposed routing of the R52 highway.

Also the Czech Supreme Audit Office has strongly questioned the quality of the proceedings that have promoted the project, as there is no proof that the money invested into its preparation and potential construction could ever be paid back from a socio-economic point of view.

Results so far

As a result of numerous controversial issues that NGOs as well as other official bodies (Ombudsman, courts, Supreme Audit Office) have raised, the Czech Transport Ministry has put the idea on hold to have the project co-financed from EU cohesion funds. It is also not planning to invest scarce national resources into the project in the coming three years.

After many years, therefore, the limited financial resources created a situation in which Czech authorities could approach the whole complex issue of transport planning in the country more rigorously and chances are that numerous questionable projects, such as the R52, will drastically drop in the priority lists.

This, however, may only be realized if civil society, media and the European Commission urge decision-makers to base their decisions on facts and not to succumb to lobby manipulations. That the latter is still a very realistic possibility shows the memorandum on the Baltic-Adriatic corridor from autumn 2009. The memorandum was signed by eight Polish, Czech and Austrian regions in autumn 2009 and aims to promote the construction of the unnecessary R52 motorway described above - and to satisfy partial political interests in South Moravia and Lower Austria.



For more information contact Pavel Pribyl, the Bankwatcher in Hnuti Duha, Czech Republic, monitoring the project's development.