However, the section between Bliesheim and Kreuz Kerpen is not yet fully open to traffic. As the construction work is still ongoing. Visitors to the website verkehr.nrw will find a general notice stating that the important north-south route is closed until July 2022. However, explained Kieback, this is a standard notification that can be withdrawn at any time. “At the moment we are making good progress on the road every day and we are always able to report roadwork completions,” she said.

The severe flooding on 14 and 15 July this year was and remains a great tragedy for many residents in the Ahr, Erft and Rhein-Sieg districts as well as in Euskirchen. Besides the countless homes lost in the disaster, traffic routes were also affected with roads and bridges destroyed. Nothing has been the same since. And even the traffic between the villages has been affected: you can feel it every day by looking at the region’s congestion map. The Ahr valley route has suffered the greatest damage. And the A61 motorway between Kerpen and Grafschaft is still impassable except for smaller sections. The consequence: Heavy goods traffic in particular has to look for alternative routes. Some truck drivers take the country routes, guided by their navigation systems. It is not uncommon for them to get stuck in the smaller side roads as these are not designed to accommodate large articulated lorries.

Residents in Heimerzheim can tell you a thing or two about this - for example, when a heavy truck tries to find a bypass route to the A61 via the country lanes and narrow paths. Lorries have apparently got stuck several times. The problem is becoming even more explosive because the bypass road (L182) near Heimerzheim is likely to remain closed until the end of the year due to a destroyed bridge. This is why so many lorries have been struggling their way through the village streets.

Wiser long-distance drivers - coming from the north - use the diversions via the A4, the A555 and the A565 to avoid the closed section. However, this means that the traffic backs up every day on the A555 near Bonn, because the A565 towards Hardtberg cannot accommodate that many vehicles.

A similar picture can be seen on the A1, which will remain closed at the Bliesheim junction after the ramp was washed out. Here the traffic from the Weilerswist-West exit agonises its way through the villages to the Brühl-Süd junction. At the end of last week, the state road construction agency opened the section of the A61 between Heimerzheim and Weilerswist to the north to provide at least a little relief for the village of Metternich. This is but a drop in the ocean.

The situation around Erftstadt remains challenging. According to the state road construction agency, a section of the B265 between Köttingen and Blessem should be passable in the near future. The section up to the motorway junction will probably not be completed until December. The A1 is expected to be reopened at the beginning of 2022, initially towards Koblenz and then in the direction of Cologne at the end of March. This is due to a collapsed bridge near Hürth.

The greatest destruction caused by the floods on 14/15 July can be found in the Ahr valley. The west section of the B266 is fully closed in Bad Neuenahr-Ahrweiler. The state of Rhineland-Palatinate has cited the end of September as the date for a possible reopening. The same applies to the closed section of the B266 in Sinzig.

But the point at which things will get better is still written in the stars. The Ahrtal section of the B267 between Neuenahr via Dernau, Rech, Mayschoß, Altenahr up to Kirchsahr remains closed in parts. It is not yet possible to provide an exact date on which the road will be permanently open.

(Original text: Jörg Manhold, Translation: Caroline Kusch)