The bridge crisis in Germany

The future of Germany´s bridges now enters a critical moment.

Several German construction associations including the Zentralverband Deutsches Baugewerbe (ZDB) and Hauptverband Deutsche Bauindustrie (HDB) last month issued an emergency statement warning that plans to cut the federal budget would be “fatal” to Germany’s infrastructure.

Over 4,000 Germany motorway bridges need urgent renovation or reconstruction.

Volker Wissing, Gremany’s federal transport minister, promised two years ago that the government would carry out 400 bridge construction projects from 2026 to clear the renovation backlog within 10 years.

Much has changed since then and the group of German construction associations joined forces to warn, “We are a long way from the 400 bridges per year. In addition, an increasing number of tenders have been cancelled in recent weeks due to a lack of funds and the construction programme of Autobahn GmbH [the German body responsible for planning, constructing and financing motorways and trunk roads] is stretched overall.”

In fact, Autobahn’s budget is to be cut by 20% from €6.2 billion (US$6.6 billion) a year to €4.9 billion (US$5.3 billion), according to the group of associations.

They warned against cutting funding for motorway construction and called for addition investment of €1 billion (US$1.1 billion) a year to get the bridge modernisation programme up and running.

“This negligent investment policy will lead to further bridges being closed and the road network falling into further disrepair,” they warned.