Dresden opened the bridge for which they lost their UNESCO listing

Dresden - The Saxon metropolis of Dresden today, after six years of construction, has acquired a new bridge over the Elbe. Approximately 190,000 people participated in the weekend celebrations before the opening of the controversial traffic artery, due to which UNESCO removed the Dresden Elbe Valley from the World Heritage List four years ago.
    The city opened the bridge for cars at 01:00 CEST, and around half past four in the morning, the first public transport bus also crossed it. According to the Focus.de portal, the first data on the bridge's usage will be available in spring 2014. Authorities will have statistics based on data from the first vehicle that crosses the bridge. Inductive and pressure sensors have been installed in the traffic lanes for cars and on the bike path to record the traffic.
    According to Focus.de, the largest city construction project cost 180.5 million euros (over 4.6 billion crowns). The initial estimated cost was 137 million euros (approximately 3.5 billion crowns), but changes in plans, processes, and unfavorable weather increased the price. The opening also came two and a half years later than planned. Delays were caused by disputes regarding the bridge in the form of mass protests, construction site blockades, or lawsuits.
    Due to the Dresden bridge, UNESCO removed the local Elbe Valley from the prestigious World Heritage List in 2009. The valley was inscribed on the list in 2004, but just two years later, UNESCO placed it among endangered sites due to the proposed bridge project.
    UNESCO repeatedly recommended that a tunnel be built instead of the bridge. However, the city rejected this, citing higher costs and the ecological damage that tunnel construction would cause.
    In the entire history of the World Heritage List, this was only the second time that a site had been removed from it. The first time occurred in 2007 in the case of Oman, where the government allowed drastic reductions in the reserve where the endangered Arabian oryx lives. The Omani reserve was registered as a natural site, while Dresden was included by UNESCO among cultural monuments.