Dilapidated bridges: Schnieder: Unexpected bridge closures possible again

Federal Minister of Transport Patrick Schnieder believes further unexpected closures are possible due to dilapidated bridges in Germany. The CDU politician told the German Press Agency, referring to a bridge in Bonn: “The bridge that we now have to demolish, this partial structure, has deteriorated dramatically within a few weeks. This can happen to us again and again. That’s why these bridge structures are closely monitored and appropriate measures are taken.”

The closure of dilapidated bridges always causes a stir. At the beginning of June, the busy motorway bridge over the Rhine in Bonn was closed to traffic until further notice due to newly discovered damage. Among other things, cracks in the concrete and corrosion damage in the reinforcing steel were found. The Bonn North Bridge is part of Autobahn 565 and the most important east-west connection for the region. It has since been announced that the bridge will be demolished. Specifically, this is about the foreshore bridge, which leads to the north bridge on the left bank of the Rhine. A new building is planned.

Tighter control

“We have been looking at the bridges much more closely for some time now, otherwise people might not have recognized it so quickly,” said the minister. “The bridges are the focus of my ministry and also Autobahn GmbH because they are so important to us and because the failure of a bridge has dramatic consequences for the regions affected.”

This was also evident last year in the west of Berlin, when the so-called Ringbahn Bridge was closed overnight at short notice due to spreading cracks in the supporting structure. The bridge was part of the Funkturm motorway triangle, one of the busiest traffic junctions in the republic. The short-term closure caused traffic chaos in the neighboring district for several weeks. The Ringbahn bridge was also demolished and is currently being rebuilt. The new building should be ready by 2027.

Many bridges to be renovated

In the long term, around 8,000 bridges would have to be renovated or newly built, said Schnieder. By 2032, around 4,000 bridges or partial bridge structures in the core motorway network will have to be renovated. «We are doing well with the task. It is said that we actually have to tackle 400 bridges a year,” said the minister. What is crucial, however, is the bridge area to be renovated. “And with these 4,000 bridges we have to renovate the equivalent of around 450 football fields. And we will have completed almost 190 of them by the end of June 2026. So we’re on track quite well because we’re making the big and important bridges at the beginning. And now additional bridges are being added that could not have been foreseen. This includes the Bonn North Bridge, whose lifespan was forecast to last until the mid-1930s.”

At its meeting on July 10th, the Federal Council issued a resolution calling for consequences from the fall of the Bonn Bridge. The Federal Council was concerned that bridge structures were being closed at increasingly short intervals. The infrastructure and climate neutrality special fund should be used more for additional measures to maintain and replace infrastructure. The debt-financed special fund also finances the maintenance of bridges. According to the federal government’s draft budget, around 2.8 billion euros are earmarked for this for 2027.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:260718-930-402768/1