VINCI Highways is starting work on a contract to upgrade the B247 road between Mühlhausen and Bad Langensalza in Germany. The work forms part of a 30-year PPP project awarded by DEGES in 2021 to VINCI Highways, subsidiary of VINCI Concessions.
This project is of note as it is the first German federal road ever developed under a PPP scheme. It represents an investment of around €500 million.
Now in construction, the expansion of the B247 becomes the largest infrastructure project in Northern Thuringia. The project consists in building two to four new lanes on a 22.2km road section, including two new bypasses, 31 structures, including two road bridges and five railway bridges, eight junctions and around 6km of additional state and federal roads.
The works will be completed by mid-2025 by subsidiaries of the VINCI Group in Germany (Eurovia, VINCI Construction Terrassement and Via Structure) in local partnership with Thuringian companies.
The project is integrated into VINCI Concessions’ environmental plan. It includes the recycling of asphalt and measures for biodiversity, such as installing protective fences for amphibians, flyover aids for bats and additional protective measures for animal populations. The construction of 10 rainwater retention basins and 59km of drainage pipes are part of the environmental plan.
The new B247 will provide an improved connection of Northern Thuringia to the state capital Erfurt and the federal motorways A71, A38 and A4, benefitting to the economy on the long-term. Successful neighbouring projects of VINCI Highways currently in operations are the A4 and A9 highways.
