Berlin, 13 February 2026. In a ruling handed down today, the Administrative Court of Hesse disallowed an injunctive action by a citizens' initiative (an environmental association). The environmental association wanted to block the clearing of trees for construction of the Riederwald Tunnel. The motorway tunnel is being planned and built by the federal motorway company Autobahn GmbH. Redeker Sellner Dahs is acting as counsel for the motorway company in the court proceedings.
The motorway tunnel has been a subject of legal contention for years. The project extends through the Fechenheim Forest in Frankfurt am Main. A citizens' initiative had now made a renewed attempt to stop implementation of the planning approval for the motorway construction. The reason forwarded was discovery of the strictly protected beetle species “Heldbock” in the area in 2022. The citizens' initiative challenged the protective measures planned for this beetle and an associated exemption from the ban on killing individual beetles before the court. The exemption also allows the clearing of trees in which the beetle lives. The environmentalists argued these measures are inappropriate and approval for the cutting down of trees to be inadmissible. Hessian Administrative Court has now quashed their injunctive action. In the opinion of the High Court, the measures planned for protection of the beetle ensured its survival and were legally watertight.
Redeker attorneys Dr Tobias Masing and Florian Beck served as counsel for Autobahn in the court proceedings. Tobias Masing expressed his satisfaction with the outcome: “The Court's decision demonstrates that species protection and large‑scale projects are entirely compatible if the legal footing for is solid and well justified. The Court thus not only ruled that a rapid execution of the motorway project is of overriding importance. Based on a preliminary but thorough review, it held that all the measures being planned by our client, which has made use of environmental expertise to protect the beetle, are lawful. It is a great success for our client that this important motorway project can no longer be delayed citing the need for species protection.”
The project has been marked by intense legal disputes and protests by opponents of the motorway in the past, with Redeker Sellner Dahs acting as counsel for Autobahn.
