Mr Hübner, if you build a bridge today, how long will it last?

Bernd Freytag

Business correspondent Rhein-Neckar-Saar based in Mainz.

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Julia Loehr

Business correspondent in Berlin.

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Eighty years.

Exactly 80?

No, the actual service life depends on many factors, of course.

But we guarantee eighty years.

If the bridge is maintained, it can also last much longer.

The Salzbach viaduct over the A66 or the dilapidated Rahmede viaduct were not even sixty years old.

Most of the bridges that now need urgent repairs were built in the 1970s.

Sadly, back then, bridges were hyper-optimized.

The concrete cover on the steel was far too small.

The steel then rusted quickly.

You would build it very differently today.

Also, don't forget that traffic has increased significantly and states have not taken proper care of federal property.

The construction of the Rahmedetal Bridge is scheduled to take five years.

Italy rebuilt the bridge in Genoa in two years.

Why is this taking so long?

This is not due to the construction industry, but to the planning and approval procedures.

I agree with you, if it takes 25 years for a simple bypass to be built, then that's simply unbearable for the people.

In any case, we can build a motorway bridge in two years.

Then why doesn't it happen?

Let's stay with the Rahmedetal Bridge.

There it is checked whether a new plan approval procedure has to be launched for the new building.

That would easily take five years, although the bridge will be rebuilt in the same place.

Or take the A1 motorway bridge in Leverkusen, one of the most important traffic routes in Germany.

It has been completely closed to heavy traffic since 2012.

This is of course unacceptable.

The construction industry has nevertheless pushed for a central federal highway administration.

Now there is the Autobahn company and yet it doesn't work.

The Autobahn company is definitely a step forward.

We talk at eye level, there are round tables, but you shouldn't expect too much in one year.

Some things could go faster if the administration would take the ideas of the construction industry more into account.

Why doesn't she?

We haven't had the opportunity to submit our own proposals for years.

This is no longer provided for in the tendering process.

We build bluntly what the client specifies.

Then bored piles are set, where perhaps a flat foundation would have sufficed.

Why is that?

Safety thinking, the famous double belt plus braces in administration.

We have no way of changing that.

As I said, we are not even allowed to make alternative proposals.

The new federal government has a lot planned: renovate motorway bridges more quickly, increase the number of new buildings by 100,000 to 400,000 a year, build more wind turbines, lay more networks - can the construction industry do all that at all?

These projects will not fail because of us.

In terms of capacity, we can do it.

Anyone looking for a builder these days will hardly share your optimism.

Bricklayers, plumbers, roofers - all are fully booked.