The section’s spokesman, Markus Valerius, welcomed the participants with the following words: “Closing the gap of the A14 is absolutely necessary. This will be an important milestone for establishing a transport connection for northern Saxony-Anhalt. The east of Germany will thereby gain a decisive north-south axis. Logistics needs fast and reliable connections!” Host Sven Köcke, head of sales and marketing at Finsterwalder Transport und Logistik GmbH in Halle, added: “Apart from the A14 extension all the way from Magdeburg via Wittenberg to Schwerin, we need a local connection between the Halle harbour and the Elbe River as well as the completion of the eastern ring road (HES). These three traffic projects have ceased to progress – and so close to the finishing line.” 

Local closing of the gap
In Halle the environmental zone’s ban on heavy through-traffic together with the lack of bypass options is causing immense detours for truck traffic. Which is why a transport service provider such as Finsterwalder is asking that the extension of the A143 to the west between the Halle/Neustadt junction and the Halle/North three-leg interchange as well as the main development road (HES) between the Delitzscher Straße junction and the B100 federal road to the east be advanced. With goods traffic growing, the Halle harbour will be able to transfer part of the goods traffic to environmentally friendly inland water transportation in the long term once the Saale canal is extended so it can serve as a connection with the Elbe River. This way the regional road network can be freed up. 

Networked traffic carriers
The logistics industry is a main industry focus of the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt with the city of Halle as an important hub. While addressing the German Economic Affairs Council, Minister Webel called for a strong infrastructure and stressed that “Saxony-Anhalt, as a federal state, has invested heavily in the development of its infrastructure. We hold the German state to its promises regarding the further development of Saxony-Anhalt’s infrastructure. Apart from the projects mentioned, this entails a marshalling yard in Halle. After all, 78 percent of commercial goods in Germany are transported by road. The marshalling yard will allow for a considerable increase of railroad traffic in commercial goods transportation. Logistics requires the networking of rail, roads and waterways.”