German motorway bridges collapse – DW – 06/23/2024

At the end of May 2024, the Moseltal Bridge presented an unusual sight. Twenty-four red trucks stood side by side right in the middle of the bridge. The 960-tonne load was being used to see how much work that had been inaugurated more than 50 years ago, and therefore very deteriorated by the passage of time, could still do. At the beginning of 2023, cracks were found in the approximately 1 kilometre-long steel structure of the bridge. The test results are still being evaluated.

The Moseltal Bridge is not an isolated case. In Germany, about 5,000 of the 40,000 bridges on the country’s motorways are in such a bad condition that they must be repaired urgently.

More than half of them were built before 1985. Because they were designed for low traffic and light vehicles, they are now overloaded and many show signs of deterioration. In addition, little work has been done to maintain them in recent years.

It is not possible to renovate them all at once. German Transport Minister Volker Wissing called the challenge a “generational task” and said after the first “bridge summit” in Berlin in 2022, “We are strategically setting new priorities for bridge modernization.”

Strategies for bridge renewal

This will require streamlining planning, processes and coordination to expedite renovation and new construction. But a key question in setting priorities is to determine how long a dilapidated bridge can continue to be used. Installing speed limits and restricting the passage of heavy vehicles can extend the life of a bridge, but even these measures cannot completely rule out sudden collapse.

At the end of 2021 the Rahmed Bridge in North Rhine-Westphalia was so damaged that it had to be closed due to the risk of collapse. It was finally demolished in 2023 and work is now underway on a new construction. It is expected that the first section will be ready in 2026.

This is a disaster for the region. Before the closure, around 48,000 cars and around 16,000 trucks crossed the bridge daily. Because of the detour installed in the area, thousands of vehicles pass through the small town of Lüdenscheid.

Neighbours there complain of kilometres-long traffic jams, excessive noise and pollution. The lack of a bridge also means that alternative routes in the area are congested, with the result that six other bridges can no longer withstand the load and have had to be closed or partially used to avoid their collapse.

Economic impact of damaged infrastructure

That has had an impact on the regional economy. Businesses are harder to reach, commutes are longer, and companies are suffering the impact, including retailers and restaurants along busy city streets, where the extra traffic has driven away customers.

In 2022, the German Economic Institute (IW) presented an “economic damage assessment” according to which companies around Lüdenscheid would see a reduction of 2 percent of their workforce and the local economy would suffer a contraction of 300 million euros per year.

“The negative impact of closing the bridge would amount to at least 1.8 billion euros over the next five years,” the study said. Millions of euros could be saved if the bridge were completed faster, the study said, however, speeding up construction would not be much simpler. Large infrastructure projects often require years of planning and Germany has regulations that require precise and lengthy inspections.

The German government is trying to speed things up by introducing a law at the end of 2023 that will eliminate the need for permits and environmental impact assessments for bridges being expanded. This should cut the overall paperwork and construction time in half.

there is shortage of money

But money is also short. Starting in 2025, the German government will have to make massive cuts to comply with the debt brake enshrined in the constitution. At the same time, inflation has driven up the price of building materials and labor costs.

4.6 billion euros have been allocated for the renovation of highways and bridges this year. According to current plans, this figure will increase to 5 billion euros per year from 2025. However, the state-owned company Autobahn GmbH has already announced that it will need an additional 5.5 billion euros for the period 2025-2028. The problem is that in the budget discussion it has been pointed out that the Ministry of Transport is one of the areas where savings can be made.

Wissing believes he has a solution: the German Liberal Party (FDP) wants to turn to private help. Will German drivers have to pay to cross bridges in the future? There is nothing concrete at the moment, but the idea is on the table.

(DZC/RR)