According to a survey, the renovation backlog at dilapidated bridges is even more dramatic than previously known. Around 16,000 bridges in federal hands are dilapidated, according to the European Association Transport & Environment (T&E). The federal government clearly underestimates the situation. At the federal, state and municipal level, up to 100 billion euros must be invested in the replacement of bridges according to T & e-calculations. T&E is a European umbrella organization of non-state organizations that claims to work for sustainable traffic. Already now, the outdated infrastructure means that German bridges have to be closed again and again – or in the long term, as the example of the bridge shows that spans the Elbe in Bad Schandau. On the occasion of the T&E report, we publish the following article from February 2025.
Mayor Thomas Kunack sits pale in his office, puts his fingers on his nose root, his eyes closed. “It shouldn’t happen,” he says. It shouldn’t happen that his place will not at least have a replacement bridge next year.
Stephan Berger, a cool appearance, appears on the computer screen at the agreed time. Berger, responsible for bridges in the Saxon Infrastructure Ministry, is currently on business in Bonn. So interview via video call. He says: “We cannot wait. That’s why we provided money as a country.”
Marco Angermann jerked through the Kirnitzschtal with his off -road vehicle: “In motivation, I ran that Germany can still do something,” he says, an opponent of the mayor.
A bridge in Saxony. The great politics in Berlin. The German bureaucracy. All of this mixes up in Bad Schandau, a small town in Saxon Switzerland, 3400 inhabitants. According to the situation, Bad Schandau may only be the beginning.
Published in Stern 09/2025
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
