1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Karlsruhe
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Die Kombilösung Karlsruhe: Kriegsstraße
Short description of the intervention
The Kriegsstraße is a large street in the centre of Karlsruhe which experienced traffic problems for a long time. Since 2005 there have been plans to redevelop the area into a multifunctional public space area to be used by cars, trams bicycles and pedestrians. Due to financing problems, the solution has been put on hold for a long time but in 2015 construction work of the so-called “combined solution” project has finally started. The plan is to renovate the Kriegsstraße, including the tram tracks above the surface and to create an underground tunnel for cars. The surface above the tunnel will be greened through the implementation of an alley of trees, green bicycle lanes and pedestrian paths as well as greened tram routes (Ref. 1). In August 2020, the implementation of the project is nearing completion and is expected to be finished in 2021 (Ref. 9, 10)
Address

Kriegsstraße
Karlsruhe
Germany

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Central Business District / City Centre
Website of the intervention
http://www.diekombiloesung.de/kombiloesung/kriegsstrasse.html
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2005
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2015
End date of the intervention
2021
Present stage of the intervention
Ongoing
Goals of the intervention
-Improving urban mobility, solving traffic jams while widening cycling and pedestrian paths in the city centre (Ref. 1)
-Increasing urban green spaces and improving quality of life for citizens, including the improvement of air quality. (Ref. 1, 10)
-Improving local ecosystems by planting new trees, uncovering sealed surfaces and greening the uncovered surfaces (Ref. 4).
-Improved connection of the Southern part of the city to the city centre with sustainable modes of transport (Ref. 2)
Quantitative targets
Creation of a 1,6 km long car tunnel. (Ref. 1)
Monitoring indicators defined
No monitoring indicators found. What is being monitored is quality management and assurance: statics, moisture protection, drainage etc. (Ref. 8).
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Regulation of built environment
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Implementation activities
Development of a 1,6 km long car tunnel to relieve pressure from the Kriegsstraße. Creating safe, wide bicycle and pedestrian paths surrounded by a 4-row-tree alley. Renewal of the tram tracks and greening the whole tram route (Ref. 1). During widening the bicycle and pedestrian paths, special attention will be paid to conserving adjacent vegetation and tree roots by laying them open manually and fencing them; 65 lime trees and 5 plane trees will be moved, and new trees will be planted. Furthermore, sealed surface areas will be uncovered and greened with grassland or trees wherever possible (Ref. 4)
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
Railroad bank and track greens
Vegetation Type
Grass
Trees
Please specify how many trees were planted
unknown
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Air quality regulation
Noise reduction
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Government-led
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The company "Karlsruher Schieneninfrastrukturgesellschaft" which is responsible for planning, construction and administration of financial issues belongs 100 percent to the city of Karlsruhe, therefore acts in its interest - defined here as a public sector institution (Ref. 5). Other parties involved are the commissioned construction company which was determined by a competition, the city department for urban green and the citizens that voted for the intervention in 2002 and participated in workshops and information events (Ref. 1, 4 and 6).
Key actors - initiating organization
Local government/municipality
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Public sector institution
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Dissemination of information and education
Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
No
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
The project is a regular urban redevelopment project that has long been discussed and was ultimately initiated due to a public vote in 2002 (Ref. 6).
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
The "integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept" (translation: integrated city development concept) issued by the city of Karlsruhe in 2012 has a vision towards 2020 that addresses several issues in relation to GI/NBS with one of the related to desealing surfaces and creating green spaces whenever possible (Ref. 7).
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
Urban redevelopment plan
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
More than €4,000,000
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
230,200,000
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
230,2 Mio EUR are the predicted total costs (Ref. 2), 80 percent of which are funded by national and regional authorities (split: 60 percent national funding, 20 percent regional funding), the rest is financed by the "Karlsruher Schieneninfrastrukturgesellschaft", a company which belongs 100 percent to the city of Karlsruhe - thereby defined as public local authority budget, next to corporate investment (Ref. 5 and 8). Of the total costs, 140,000,000 EUR are used for the construction of the tunnel only. (Ref. 10)
Source(s) of funding
Public national budget
Public regional budget
Public local authority budget
Corporate investment
Type of fund(s) used
Earmarked public budget
Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Green densification model
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Technological
Infrastructural innovation
Please specify technological innovation
The multifunctional use of space and types of green infrastructure, such as the greening of the tram route can be perceived as the innovation concerning this intervention. Also the intervention itself is declared an infrastructure project of the future (Ref. 8)
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Unknown
Description of environmental benefits
Unknown: as the project has not yet been completed, there are no impacts mentioned.
Economic impacts
Unknown
Description of economic benefits
Unknown: as the project has not yet been completed, there are no impacts mentioned.
Social and cultural impacts
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
Unknown: as the project has not yet been completed, there are no impacts mentioned.
Type of reported impacts
No impacts reported
Indicators
Unknown
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Environmental quality
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
No information available
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown (in November 2020)
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
No evidence in public records
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Project website
Project folder
Comprehensive brochure
Neues von der Kombilösung: Haltestellen nehmen Gestalt an - im November beginnt…
Tunnel Kriegsstraße, Kombi-Lösung Karlsruhe im Zuge der B 10
List of references
1. Karlsruher Schieneninfrastruktur- Gesellschaft mbH (2017b) Oben gut drauf. Die neue Kriegsstraße. Available at: http://www.diekombiloesung.de/kombiloesung/kriegsstrasse.html (Accessed: 4 July 2017). [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020]

2. Karlsruher Schieneninfrastruktur- Gesellschaft mbH (2017a) Kombilösung Karlsruhe. Der Umbau der Kriegsstraße. Karlsruhe. Available at: http://www.diekombiloesung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/kombiloesung/PDF/Broschuere_Kriegsstrasse_Druck.pdf [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020]

3. Holdenried, R. (2016) ‘Baustart für Tunnel unter Kriegsstraße: Das kommt 2017 auf uns zu’, ka-news.de, 28 November. [online]. Available at: https://www.ka-news.de/region/karlsruhe/kombiloesung./Baustart-fuer-Tunnel-unter-Kriegsstrasse-Das-kommt-2017-auf-uns-zu;art6066,1986622 [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020]

4. Stadt Karlsruhe Stadtplanungsamt (2005) ‘Begrünungsplan Kriegsstraße Mitte’. Karlsruhe. Available at: http://www.diekombiloesung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/kombiloesung/PDF/Lageplaene/kriegstrasse/Begruenungsplan_Kriegsstrasse_Mitte.pdf [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020]

5. Karlsruher Schieneninfrastruktur- Gesellschaft mbH (2017) Mit diesen Zahlen können Sie rechnen. Available at: http://www.diekombiloesung.de/kombiloesung/finanzierung.html [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020].

6. Bildungsverein Region Karlsruhe e.V. (no date) Kombilösung. Available at: https://ka.stadtwiki.net/Kombilösung [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020].

7. Fulda, C. and Miles, S. (2012) Karlsruhe 2020 : Integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept. Karlsruhe. Available at: https://www.karlsruhe.de/b4/buergerengagement/karlsruhe2020.de [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020].

8. Karlsruher Schieneninfrastruktur- Gesellschaft mbH (2015) Kombilösung Karlsruhe. Ein Infrastrukturprojekt, das Karlsruhe bewegt. Available at: http://www.unserebroschuere.de/diekombiloesung/WebView/ [Accessed: 4 Oct. 2020].

9. Ka-news.de. (2020). Neues von der Kombilösung: Haltestellen nehmen Gestalt an - im November beginnt Gleisbau in Kriegsstraße. [online]. Available at: https://www.ka-news.de/region/karlsruhe/kombiloesung./neues-von-der-kombiloesung;art6066,2558772 [Accessed: 7 Nov. 2020].

10. Unternehmensgruppe BUNG: (nd.) Tunnel Kriegsstraße, Kombi-Lösung Karlsruhe im Zuge der B 10. [online]. Available at: https://www.bung-gruppe.de/bereiche-1/tunnelbau/tunnel-kriegsstra%C3%9Fe-karlsruhe/ [Accessed: 7 Nov. 2020].