Wednesday January 12, 2022
Hundreds are likely to be in front of the new building
Ailing bridges alert motorway operators
The federal motorway company sees a great need for action. The condition of many motorway bridges is apparently even worse than previously assumed, according to an internal report. Accordingly, the number of new buildings could double each year.
Hundreds of motorway bridges in Germany have to be renovated. Your condition is even worse than feared, writes the “Spiegel” and cites an internal investigation by the federal highway company. Accordingly, the number of bridges that have to be rebuilt every year should at least double. 28,000 bridges were examined. If the problems were not addressed soon, there would be consequences: “If the necessary maintenance measures on the thousands of structures are not implemented to the required extent and promptly, there will be considerable traffic restrictions in the coming years, including the closure of bridges,” quotes the “Spiegel” “from the January letter.
It is “foreseeable”, however, that many bridges built before 1985 will have to be renewed in the medium term, i.e. that they will have to be rebuilt. “According to initial calculations, at least a doubling of the current approx. 200 to approx. 400 motorway bridges per year can be assumed,” predicts the motorway company. Among other things, she is responsible for the planning, construction, maintenance and financing of the motorways.
She also stated that “for existing structures it will be examined whether the high investments required to increase the load-bearing capacity and durability are still economically viable for a limited remaining useful life or whether a new replacement is the better solution”. In the short term, “a re-prioritization of requirement plan projects for the critical existing bridges is necessary”. The highway builders are demanding more money from the Federal Government and Transport Minister Volker Wissing, as well as their own “Law of Measures” based on the Danish model, with which the planning time is to be shortened.
Union demands quick action from Wissing
During the day, the Bundestag’s Transport Committee will also deal with the problem. Most recently, the state of the motorway bridges came back into focus at the end of last year due to the closure of the Rahmede viaduct on the A45 near Lüdenscheid in North Rhine-Westphalia. The Union called on Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing from the FDP to act quickly. Thomas Bareiß, transport policy spokesman for the CDU / CSU parliamentary group, said that a reliable timetable with specific deadlines is now needed: “The Union will not allow a long hanging game and delaying tactics on the part of those affected. Now the minister can prove how fast procedures and planning are and implementation in practice. “
Last Friday, the federal autobahn GmbH announced that the Rahmede bridge on the Sauerland line between the eastern Ruhr area and Frankfurt am Main must be demolished. Hopes for a renovation were thus dashed. The bridge on the important traffic axis between northern and southern Germany is completely cordoned off.
Plans for a replacement building have started, as NRW Transport Minister Ina Brandes from the CDU had announced in a report for the meeting of the transport committee in the state parliament. At the request of the dpa, the Federal Ministry of Transport said that so that the local infrastructure could be brought into a modern and efficient state, it was currently being examined how the dismantling of the irreparably damaged valley bridge could most effectively be carried out. At the same time, planning for the new building began. As far as the possible duration of the dismantling and new construction is concerned, no specific information can currently be given.