With the receipt of the planning approval decision, an important milestone has been reached in the construction of the new underpass at the site of the former railroad crossing in Kastel. This means that detailed design work can proceed as planned. The call for bids for the construction work is scheduled to be issued early next year. The construction of the underpass is necessary because the existing railroad crossing can no longer be operated due to new technical requirements and limited space. The latter is also the reason why the new underpass will be designed exclusively for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. In the future, motorized private traffic will be routed to the Reduit exclusively via Rampenstraße and the road at Kransand. 

“With the new underpass, we are creating a safe and convenient connection for the many people who travel on foot or by bicycle between Mainz-Kastel and the Reduit,” says City Councilman Andreas Kowol. 

Various requests from the state capital of Wiesbaden were also taken into account during the planning process. For example, the staircase leading to the Reduit will be designed to be open. In addition, at the request of the state capital of Wiesbaden, additional stairways will be integrated halfway up the ramps. These will particularly improve access from the southeast, thereby making the underpass easier to reach. 

Furthermore, the underpass is already being designed so that, should the central platform be widened at a later date, a direct staircase leading to it can be retrofitted. The central platform is currently still too narrow at this point to allow for such access to be implemented immediately. 

With this planning approval decision, the conditions are now in place to move the project forward through the next planning stages.