City identifies considerable need for investment in bridges and roads
The city of Chemnitz has a considerable need for investment in the maintenance and repair of roads and bridges. The Mayor of Construction, Petra Wesseler, and the Head of the Civil Engineering Department, Bernd Gregorzyk, provided information on this in a press conference today. According to the report, around half of Chemnitz's road network and half of the city's bridges will require repair and maintenance measures in the short to medium term. This corresponds to a development that can be observed in numerous municipalities in Germany.
Roads in need of investment
Around 52 per cent of Chemnitz's road network is in an acceptable condition from a structural and road safety perspective, with the majority of these requiring structural measures in the medium term. A further 30 per cent of the road network needs to be examined to determine whether short-term maintenance or repair measures are necessary, and around 18 per cent of Chemnitz's roads require immediate construction measures.
Between 2008 and 2013, the city of Chemnitz invested around 12.5 million euros in the maintenance of Chemnitz's road network. This means that an average of around 2.5 million euros was invested each year. This compares with an annual funding requirement of 8.8 million euros to bring the entire road network into an acceptable condition. This results in an annual investment gap of around 6 million euros.
In comparison with the cities of Dresden and Leipzig, the overall investment gap for Chemnitz is in line with the average. It can be assumed that the city is also in line with the national average.
The Chemnitz road network covers a total of 863 kilometres.
Investment requirements for bridges
The bridges in Chemnitz are regularly inspected in accordance with legal requirements. Important: Road safety is guaranteed on all bridges in the city. None of the major bridges in the main road network are about to be closed. However, short-term closures cannot be ruled out, especially for the secondary network, if the annual inspections require this for safety reasons.
Of the total of 304 bridges in Chemnitz, around 46 per cent are in considerable need of repair or renewal. The corresponding funding requirement for new replacements is around 21 million euros. The investment backlog for repairs amounts to a further 40 million euros.
This means that Chemnitz is also in line with the national average in terms of investment requirements for bridge structures. Accordingly, just under half of all bridges nationwide are in a condition that makes repair or replacement necessary in the short to medium term.
In recent years, for example, the city has renewed the Bernhardstraße bridge and the Hartmannstraße bridge. Work is currently underway on the Dresdner Platz and Markersdorfer Straße bridges.