Germany’s Autobahn Bridges Are Going to Pieces
Vital concrete structures are in a sorry state and require billions of euros of investment.
The highway bridge construction site on the closed A45 highway near Luedenscheid, Germany, on Thursday, March 27, 2025.
Photographer: Alex Kraus/BloombergThe new 3.2-kilometer (2 mile) stretch of Berlin’s A100 ring road that opened last month after 12 years of development and around €720 million ($842 million) of investment should have symbolized Germany’s belated conversion to more infrastructure spending.
Instead, the ribbon cutting was overshadowed by growing alarm about the dilapidated state of the nation’s road bridges, including those on the Autobahn built during the country’s post-World War II economic boom; these overpasses and river crossings are rapidly wearing out, and thousands must now be refurbished or replaced.