Lüdenscheid Bridge: Rapid Construction & Hope

Connect bridges. They overcome valleys and rivers and, figuratively speaking, also hold coalitions together. But often they are just blocked – for years and usually longer than planned. For once, things are different with the Rahmede valley bridge in Sauerland: it will be reopened this Monday, just in time for Christmas, and therefore much earlier than expected. The Chancellor doesn’t miss this either.

The case is worth taking a closer look at, because the federal government does not want the new building to be seen as a stroke of luck in times of need, but rather as a role model. After weeks of struggle, they have just agreed on a future infrastructure law that will make such an exception the rule. 500 billion euros have to be built up in the next twelve years, the faster the better. It’s a good thing that Federal Transport Minister Patrick Schnieder (CDU) was recently able to grant almost two dozen approvals for construction projects on motorways and federal trunk roads. One has little to do with the other, but it all comes from the same realization: that something has to change.

Awareness is the first step towards improvement; now there seems to be the necessary pressure everywhere. The Rahmede Valley Bridge in the Sauerland is a good example of this because it shows where ailing infrastructure in Germany can lead. A good four years ago – the traffic light government had not even been in office for a week – the new Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing received the bad news about the spontaneous closure of the motorway bridge. The A 45 has been interrupted since then, and tens of thousands of cars and trucks rolled through the small town of Lüdenscheid every day. They paralyzed life in the region, causing dirt, noise and endless traffic jams. Shops had to close and children hardly went to school.

At that time, Wissing had to promise the desperate citizens what was actually impossible given the strict laws and complicated procedures: that the bridge would be rebuilt as quickly as possible, at a pace that only Genoa had previously achieved. The Morandi Bridge collapsed there in August 2018, killing 43 people. Italy responded with an emergency decree that suspended normal administrative processes and resulted in the bridge opening just two years later.

Germany inevitably took a different path. Although it took a little longer, it still amounted to a revolution in this country. Every opportunity provided by applicable law was used. The authorities took unconventional and pragmatic approaches. The consortium offered all its architectural skills and the administration was gracious. Nobody complained. The planning approval process was drastically shortened. The bridge was functionally put out to tender and the executing companies were able to undertake the detailed planning themselves. Parallel approval procedures further accelerated the project. In other words, everyone involved stopped blocking each other and instead worked simultaneously. This is the only reason why Schnieder can now keep the promise that his predecessor once made.

This level of agility was previously rare, but now it has to be used as standard. The Infrastructure Future Act, which was pushed through the cabinet at the last meeting before Christmas after long resistance from the SPD-led Environment Ministry, is intended to ensure this. In the future, rail projects, the construction of new motorways and the replacement of bridges should be in the “overriding public interest” and should therefore be given priority.

Critics dismiss this with the argument that those who prioritize everything are in fact prioritizing nothing. But only those who don’t want Germany to achieve more in the future than before can talk like that. Ultimately, it’s all about increasing capacities. The construction industry has not exactly suffered from being overwhelmed in recent months. On the contrary: the industry has had months of short-time work behind it.

The changes are not without risk. It is already clear that the law will meet with widespread resistance. But it is good that the federal government is leaving the beaten path. Nowhere is it better demonstrated than in Lüdenscheid how important it is for bridges to function.