After 1 year of closure

West exit is reopened to traffic

Transport Councillor Ulli Sima (SPÖ), Hietzing district leader Ebert (ÖVP), bridge construction boss Herzfeld with Penzing district leader Michaela Schüchner (SPÖ) (from left to right)

(Bild: Zwefo)

After a year of refurbishment, the important traffic route will be open to traffic again tomorrow - one day earlier than planned 

The west exit, one of the city's most important arterial roads, was closed for almost a year. Tomorrow, Thursday, from 5 a.m., two lanes of traffic will be open again.

52,000 vehicles use this important road every day. Transport Councillor Ulli Sima, Penzing's district leader Michaela Schüchner (both SPÖ) and Friedrich Nikolaus Ebert, district leader of Hietzing (ÖVP) inspected the newly renovated stretch beforehand.

The work on the Nikolai support structures was not only technically challenging, but also logistically challenging, as the construction site had to be carried out in a very confined space between the Wien River, the railroad tracks and the detour route.

(Bild: Zwefo)

More than 30 years after the last major partial refurbishment, a comprehensive renovation had become necessary, according to Sima. In order to then shoot against the originally planned project of her predecessor Birgit Hebein (Greens), where she pulled the ripcord. The entire traffic would have shifted to the 13th district side and all trees would have had to be cleared over a length of one kilometer. The safety of the western exit is now guaranteed for the next 20 years, Sima promises. An area of around 15,000 square meters was repaired over a length of 1.3 kilometers. The work was challenging and took place in a very confined space between the railroad line and the Wien River

Together with districts 13 and 14 and citizens' initiatives, the city now wants to tackle the pioneering "Climate-Fit Vienna Valley" project. In the long term, this should make use of the opportunity of the century to redesign the Wiental and connect the two recreational areas Wienfluss and Lainzer Tiergarten.