Great joy in Rotenburg: Fulda-Südufer opened after a million dollar project!

Great joy in Rotenburg: Fulda-Südufer opened after a million dollar project!

An important day for the city of Rotenburg: On June 27, 2025, the redesigned Fulda-Südufer was ceremoniously opened. After almost two years of construction, which were characterized by challenges such as floods and monument protection, the city can proudly present a project that not only honors the “heart of the city”, but also enriches the leisure activities of the citizens. Mayor Marcus Weber described the opening as "memorable" and was pleased with the successful completion of the extensive work, which cost around 2.5 million euros. Two thirds of the funding from the federal and state funding flowed, so that the city did not only have to bear the financial burdens, which is particularly valuable in times of scarce coffers.

The planning work for this extensive renovation began in 2020, and the symbolic groundbreaking took place in September 2023. Under the direction of the former mayor Christian Grunwald , the project was launched, and the Berlin landscape architecture firm BBZ won the design that was to increase the attractiveness of the bank area. A central element of the new design is an artificial watercourse that ensures a constant flow and thereby improves flood protection. At the same time, bright seating levels and a widened river bed were created, which is a significant upgrading of the area. The Fulda cycle path R1 now runs directly on the water and also invites cyclists to linger.

A look back at the challenges and progress

The flood problem at Fulda already led to the development of the Fuldaaue master plan, which serves the municipalities of Rotenburg, Bebra and Alheim as a flexible planning instrument. In this planning process, the interests of nature conservation, water management, tourism and the population were taken into account in order to create a zoning concept that defines a variety of uses such as nature conservation, leisure and even gravel mining. Thanks to this far -reaching initiative, the renaturation on the Fulda could be promoted, and the results are remarkable: about 90% of the natural flood areas have now been restored.

An example of the progress in Rotenburg is the reactivation of two high -floods, each 60 meters wide. The Fulda was expanded over a length of 500 meters to 60 to 70 meters, which could reduce the flood mirror by approximately 80 cm, which represents a significant improvement in flood protection. The outer reactivation has increased the retention room for floods by more than 250,000 m³. Such measures are not only important for the protection of the population, but also create attractive natural habitats.

happy festival and outlook in the future

In view of the increase in extreme weather events through climate change, the topic of flood protection and the renaturation of Auen will also play a central role in the future. Smaller flowing waters in particular can help mitigate flood waves and at the same time to promote the extraordinary ecosystem. It is important that such projects as implemented in Rotenburg or other cities will also be forced in the next few years.