Neuenkirch: New Wildlife Bridge over the A2

The planned Neuenkirch wildlife bridge will cross the A2 motorway north of the rest stop.

Preparatory work for construction begins on Monday, 30 March 2020, with logging operations. A total of 3,500 square metres on both sides of the motorway will be temporarily cleared, and the area will be reforested after the wildlife bridge has been built. The main construction work is scheduled to begin in summer 2020.

Under the Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage and in alignment with the cantonal structure plan, the Federal Roads Office ASTRA is required to restore wildlife corridors and create crossing aids for wildlife. The most important connections between population areas are to be maintained in a nature-friendly manner and, where possible, enhanced from a wildlife biology perspective.

The wildlife overpass will be 50 metres wide and approximately 36 metres long, with a clearance height of 4.80 metres. To ensure the structure blends well into the surrounding landscape, it will largely be constructed in timber, using native species such as spruce/fir and oak.

In addition to their supra-regional importance, wildlife corridors provide a vital link for the exchange between the north-eastern and south-western parts of the canton of Lucerne. One of these wildlife corridors runs through the Neuenkirch area in a north–south direction, bordered to the south by the Adelwiler and Bärtiswiler forests and to the north by the Chüserainer forest.

In order to restore wildlife connectivity in the described areas, the zone west of the Neuenkirch rest stop in the Rümlikerwald has been identified as the optimal location for a wildlife crossing. The low-lying motorway there makes an overpass a natural choice. Thanks to the existing woodland areas surrounding the wildlife corridor, no additional approach structures are required.

In the canton of Lucerne, there are three wildlife corridors of supra-regional importance that were severed during the construction of the national motorway in the 1970s (Langnau bei Reiden, Knutwil, and Neuenkirch). Under the Federal Act on the Protection of Nature and Cultural Heritage, and in alignment with the cantonal structure plan, the Federal Roads Office FEDRO is obligated to restore wildlife corridors and create crossing aids for wildlife. The most significant connections between population habitats are to be preserved in a nature-compatible manner and, where possible, enhanced from a wildlife biology perspective.

The costs for the Neuenkirch wildlife bridge amount to approximately 10.7 million francs.