The gridlock has now reached Berlin. Not political Berlin, but down on the streets. The A100 autobahn section running through the city, which largely handles commuter traffic, was fully blocked for several days after an emergency closure at the traffic hub Funkturm and is now only partially passable. Frustrated drivers of cars and trucks are navigating through side streets in the neighbouring residential areas. The residents of the upscale Westend are in despair. An end: not in sight. There is prospect of a partial closure that could last as long as two years.

One could almost be amused by the cause: an enlarged crack in a dilapidated highway bridge. This is not an isolated case in Germany. At least 4,000 bridges have been classified as in need of renovation. However, the backstory only evokes incredulous amazement. Most notably, it offers a lesson in how politics and administration fail. The borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf (with roughly the same population as Bonn, Bielefeld, or Bochum), the Berlin Senate as the state government, and the Federal Autobahn GmbH, have been passing responsibility to each other since the emergency closure.

The crack was discovered in 2015. A year later, the Senate began preparing for a new bridge. The planning approval process was initiated in 2022, but only for a „temporary bridge“. It is still ongoing. Ten years after the crack was discovered, no building permit has yet been issued. The reconstruction of the bridge is being separated from this process, Transport Senator Ute Bonde (CDU) indicated. But this is associated with legal difficulties.

The now unavoidable demolition of the bridge, which crosses over railway tracks, will take three months. During that time, one of the main routes of the Berlin S-Bahn will have to be closed. How often and for how long remains unclear. So far, the S-Bahn is still running – which offers some consolation, as the Verdi union is currently staging daily strikes against the Berlin Verkehrsbetriebe BVG in a wage dispute, and buses and U-Bahn trains often remain in their depots.

For the Autobahn GmbH, this is a test of endurance. The federal company has been responsible for the planning, construction, operation, and maintenance of highways and federal roads since 2021. Prior to that, the states handled all this for the federal government. The highway company was recently in the spotlight when the former coalition attempted to use it to circumvent the debt brake and take on additional debt. This failed due to the GmbH’s lack of independent revenue.

The issue is also urgent in political Berlin. In the coalition negotiations, the CDU advocates for partnerships with private investors to eliminate bottlenecks in the transport network. The Autobahn GmbH is to be assigned truck tolls to make it creditworthy. What is not in the fine print: The potential new coalition government would thus be opening up another source of credit.