These supporting structures on streets in BW are dilapidated – SWR Aktuell

In order to protect motorists from dangers such as landslides from embankments, there are retaining walls and walls along the state roads in Baden-Württemberg, so-called retaining structures. SWR research in March found that 129 of the 5,330 supporting structures had a condition grade of 3.5-4.0 and were therefore in an “unsatisfactory condition”. The Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport admitted this after repeated inquiries. For the Baden-Württemberg opposition in the state parliament, these notes are alarming – they fear serious accidents.

Most of the dilapidated buildings are in the administrative district of Freiburg

Which buildings are specifically affected – the Ministry of Transport has so far refused the SWR this information. Now the FDP has prompted the ministry with a parliamentary request to disclose the specific buildings. This list is exclusively available to the SWR.

Almost 60 percent of the retaining structures urgently in need of rehabilitation are located in the administrative district of Freiburg – a total of 77. A further 35 are located in the administrative district of Stuttgart. 15 are in the administrative district of Karlsruhe and two in the administrative district of Tübingen.

FDP: Ministry of Transport is not aware of the scope of the list

For the opposition party FDP, the list of buildings in an unsatisfactory condition is a “danger list”. “People are obviously not fully aware of the scope of this list,” says Christian Jung, spokesman for transport policy for the FDP parliamentary group in Baden-Württemberg, to SWR. It is important to carry out a risk analysis without spreading horror scenarios. However, “bad things could happen” – as an example, Jung cites a school bus with children that crashes.

Since the rating table only goes up to a grade of 4.0, Jung compares the rating with the school grade of 6. “It’s not a trivial offense,” he says. Each one is “toxic” and therefore dangerous.

28 dilapidated support structures are located in the Münstertal in the Black Forest

What is striking about the list of dilapidated retaining walls and walls is not only that more than half are in the administrative district of Freiburg. 28 of them are located in a single valley: the Münstertal in the Black Forest. However, according to the Ministry of Transport’s renovation list, which was published in March, only one of these 28 retaining structures is to be renovated in 2022.

“If there is imminent danger, the road in question will be closed immediately,” says Matthias Henrich, spokesman for the Freiburg regional council, to SWR. The mayor of the municipality of Münstertal (Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district), Rüdiger Ahlers (SPD), trusts in the risk assessment of the Presidium. “I assume that the roads are safe,” says Ahlers.

Guessing with the counties: Where are the dilapidated retaining walls?

According to the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Transport, four of the dilapidated support structures are in the Calw district. The local district office is amazed. “We were not involved in the preparation of the Ministry of Transport,” writes the spokeswoman when asked by SWR. So they could not “as of today confirm whether the buildings in their list are actually dilapidated”. A crumbling sandstone on the surface also says nothing about the support capacity of the wall, i.e. the solid part inside.

The list also includes the L1158 state road near Mögglingen (Ostalbkreis). According to SWR research on site, nobody knows exactly where the dilapidated supporting structure is supposed to be. However, the mayor of Möggling, Adrian Schlenker (independent), immediately thinks of the section of the L1158 near the railway tracks. There is a busy road there, which drops more and more due to the heavy goods traffic. This pushes the slope down towards apartment buildings. The pressure has already cracked private walls supporting the slope.

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So far, there is no retaining wall to prevent this. According to its own statements, the municipality of Mögglingen has therefore been contacting the regional council in Stuttgart every year for eight years. In the meantime, this has initiated drilling, and an expert opinion is being drawn up. The regional council has now informed the municipality that the area is to be renovated in 2024, according to Schlenker.

Which retaining structures in BW are in an unsatisfactory condition?

Despite a clear question from the FDP, the list from the Ministry of Transport does not reveal which specific section contains the supporting structures with the worst condition grade. Only the street name, the town, the district and the administrative district in Baden-Württemberg are listed.

In this overview table prepared by the SWR, you can use the search function to search for towns, districts or state roads:

Where will there be road closures in Baden-Württemberg in 2022?

In the statement to the FDP, the Ministry of Transport remains imprecise in its statements. Where exactly there will be road closures and which buildings will be renovated in 2022 remains open. It says succinctly: It is “prioritized according to need and urgency”. And: “In the most extreme case, this would lead to a complete closure of the road”. Questions from the SWR on the subject were not answered with reference to an insufficient deadline.

According to Christian Jung (FPD), the problem is that it is not clear whether the structures will hold up. “We don’t know if something will happen tomorrow,” says Jung. But it could also be another five years. However, he is convinced: “All structures would probably justify an immediate closure of the route.”

This is how much it costs to renovate the retaining walls and walls in BW

The cost of renovating the support structures along the state roads with a condition grade of 3.5 to 4.0 is 67.5 million euros, the Ministry of Transport explains when asked by the FDP. How much money from the current budget for 2022 (161 million euros) will be spent on this is not clear from the letter, despite the clear question.

SWR research triggered a state parliament debate

SWR research into the condition of the supporting structures on state roads from March triggered a debate in the Baden-Württemberg state parliament at the beginning of April. The green-led Ministry of Transport acknowledged problems at the time.

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