A Bridge Runs through It – Mosel edition
Things are heating up in the Mosel–and it’s not just global warming. Mike Steinberger posted on Slate about planned demonstrations last Friday to protest a “four-lane, mile-long highway bridge across the Mosel river, a project that threatens a handful of Germany’s most celebrated vineyards.” Manfred Prüm, Willi Schaefer, Markus Molitor, and Erni Loosen were to be in attendance, as will wine writers Hugh Johnson and Stuart Pigott. Check out his excellent overview piece.
Decanter has a wrap on the event in which a Green party member decries the bridge as simply stimulus money. Johnson is quoted saying, “Bridges have been built from nowhere to nowhere, but don’t let that happen. Don’t think that this can’t be stopped.” And to top it off, the bridge as depicted in the above rendering is an anodyne collection of matchsticks, not even a soaring Calatrava creation!
The bridge would shorten the commute from Belgium and Holland to the Frankfurt-Hahn airport. Opponents of the bridge say it would shave only 30 minutes of the journey. The state of Rheinland-Pfalz seeks to turn the airport into a cargo hub. But it already is a hub for Ryanair, the low-cost carrier that even charges for printing boarding passes, collecting lost and found, and threatens charging for on-board toilets!
If this burns you up, Stuart Pigott, for his part, previously was reported to have supported the burning of a puppet representing the state prime minister of the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, Kurt Beck, in effigy. (Where does one get a good effigy these days?) But if you want to try another, less-combustible approach, you could try writing to the Chancellor. We received a somewhat cheesy sample letter here today, which is reproduced after the jump.
“As a lover of German wine, I beg you to intervene on behalf of the winegrowers of the Mosel and put a stop to the construction in Rheinland-Pfalz of the Mosel High Bridge. This bridge will compromise some of the finest vineyard land in Europe. By allowing this construction to continue, you do a disservice to your nation and to the generations that will follow us.”
On September 15th, 2009 at 10:06 am ,1WineDude wrote:
Yikes!
On September 15th, 2009 at 1:03 pm ,Francesco wrote:
On the upside, maybe the passing traffic will create enough breeze to deter some frost, haha j/k. This project would be a real shame…
On September 15th, 2009 at 2:38 pm ,Felipe Méndez wrote:
Is there any evidence that the bridge IS gonna be deleterious?
I mean, if someone from the green party would have said that the now famous roman bridges was going to be harmful to the enviroment, the whole humanity would have lost great pieces of architecture and engineering.
On September 15th, 2009 at 3:06 pm ,Dylan wrote:
30 minutes shorter and it will reduce the amount of possible drinking and driving. This plan has it all figured out, doesn’t it?
On September 16th, 2009 at 8:10 am ,Robert Simonson wrote:
What a hideously stupid idea.
Felipe: just look at the rendering. The image of that bridge defacing the view of the river and surrounding landscape is deleterious enough. It hurts the eyes and the soul. And honestly, are you calling that thing a great piece of architecture on par with the Roman aqueducts?
On September 18th, 2009 at 11:48 am ,Cositas y cosotas: 18.09.2009 « La otra botella wrote:
[…] para algunos de los viñedos más preciados del Mosela. Piezas de Mike Steinberger en Slate y Dr. Vino (en esta última ha comentado ya nuestro amigo Felipe Méndez de un modo que considero francamente […]
On May 25th, 2012 at 4:38 pm ,Bernadette wrote:
Hideous ….great word for this plan. How much money spent to shave off/save 30mins….not an intelligent plan in my opinion. Instead invest the money in the Mosel so people wont wish to pass through it to get on a plane.