The near collapse of the Wiesbaden Salzbachtal highway bridge, leading to the closure of two major highway links as well as the city’s main railway station, has forced a bit of reality among some editors of German newspapers. Friedrich Roeingh, editor in chief of Mainzer Allgemeine Zeitung, posted a comment on his newspaper’s website on June 20 calling for billions to be invested in infrastructure.
Roeingh ticked off the gross failures in replacing such main highway bridges such as the Rhine-Ruhr (A1 near Leverkusen), which is in the main industrial area of Germany, and is now finally in the process of being replaced; the Rhine-Neckar (Adenauer Bridge) linking Mannheim and Ludwigshafen which urgently needs replacement, where work has not started; the Schiersteiner Bridge at Wiesbaden, which after years of delay is now approaching completion; and now the Salzbachtal Bridge which should have been replaced years ago and has almost collapsed. He concluded, “We can no longer allow ourselves to be fobbed off with the whitewashing of increasing renovation budgets. More money is of no use as long as the decline continues even faster. The previous small and small must finally be followed by programs with billions. And they will only take effect if planning and approval law is accelerated at the same time.”
