Car parks planning/all year round design for the Rennsteig in the Thüringer forest

As part of the all year round design for the Rennsteig, five car parks in the Thüringer forest were planned by igr. igr was responsible for the technical specialist planning and the environmental management supplementary plan. In total, the car parks Schmiedefeld, Kalte Küche, Schillerbuche, Neustadt und Hohe Sonne in the Thüringer forest were developed. The car parks are to be upgraded and modified with improvements planned in the asphalt surfaces, so as to improve the tourist facilities at each site. The car parks are sited along the well-known Rennsteig footpath – the oldest long distance footpath in Germany, which has a total length of 170 km and is visited by 100,000 hikers annually.

igr created an environmental management supplementary plan in line with the Thüringer balancing model (encroachment and compensation balancing corresponding to the significance of the biotope types that are present). In addition, the investigation areas were analysed with regard to possible nature conservation areas (FFH zones, Bird sancturies, and other categories). Some car parks are inside the "Vessertal-Thüringer Wald" biosphere reserve and the "Thüringer Wald" nature reserve. These special situations were taken into account accordingly and exemption applications in line with § 67 Bundesnaturschutzgesetz (BnatSchG) were made.

With regard to the encroachment on nature and the environment, with agreement of the lower nature conservation authority in the respective state districts, appropriate compensation measures within and outside of the planning area were implemented. In order to ensure the efficiency of the planned environmental management measures, environmental construction supervision ensured that the construction related encroachments were minimised, and the compensation measures undertaken. The technical and ecological construction supervision undertaken by igr, ensured the smooth implementation of the measures under consideration of the conditions of the authorisation permit.

Services provided by igr

  • Environmental construction supervision
  • Landscape (environmental) management supplementary plan
  • Exemption applications

Key figures

  • Construction related encroachments: ca. 12 ha
  • External compensation measures: ca. 15 ha