Germany, Austerity’s Champion, Faces Some Big Repair Bills

[cpzilliacus]

N.Y. Times: Germany, Austerity's Champion, Faces Some Big Repair Bills

When inspectors decided a few months ago that the aging bridge over the Kiel Canal in northern Germany was too weak for heavy truck traffic, Holger Dechant, hired to deliver giant wind turbines to the other side, was at a loss.

He did eventually come up with an alternative route. But it is telling of the sorry state of some of Germany's roads and bridges: His company is driving the turbines to a ferry, shipping them north to Denmark and then driving them south again back into Germany.

"That's how bad it is,"  Mr. Dechant said recently, explaining the 186-mile detour in his office here. "We just haven't invested enough. And now there is trouble because there is no easy button to fix it all."

Germany was once known for its superfast autobahns, efficient industry and ability to rally public resources for big projects, like integration with the former East Germany. But more recently, it has been forced to confront a somewhat uncharacteristic problem: Its infrastructure – roads, bridges, train tracks, waterways and the like – is aging in a way that experts say could undermine its economic growth for years to come.

As it has been preaching austerity to its neighbors, Germany itself has kept a tight rein on spending at home. Now critics abroad, including the European Union and the United States, are pressing it to do more to stimulate its own economy, and Chancellor Angela Merkel's likely partners in a new coalition government, the left-leaning Social Democrats, are seeking more money for a variety of domestic programs.

[J N Winkler]

If the Germans do actually start tackling this backlog of infrastructure repairs, I hope they loosen up and let people who are not EU residents download the construction drawings.  Download on these terms is currently possible in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, and France, and in most of these countries (all except Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden) it is possible to do so anonymously.  The German national electronic tendering platform requires that users be registered in order to download construction drawings and other documentation.  To complete registration, users need to obtain a digital certificate, which is issued only when a fee is paid and the user supplies official proof of EU residency (either a German Personalausweis or a passport plus a government-issued document indicating legal residence in an EU country).  Of the EU/EEA countries, Portugal is the only other I am aware of that has a similarly restrictive system.

[english si]

If the Germans do actually start tackling this backlog of infrastructure repairs, I hope they loosen up and let people who are not EU residents download the construction drawings.  Download on these terms is currently possible in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, and France

Norway and Switzerland aren't in the EU.

And EU countries Luxembourg, UK, Portugal, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania aren't on your list.

[J N Winkler]

Norway and Switzerland aren't in the EU.

Indeed they aren't.  Their national road administrations (local equivalents of a UK trunk roads authority--Bundesamt für Strassen in Switzerland, Statens Vegvesen in Norway) allow download of construction drawings for contracts put out to tender by persons who are not residents of the EU, which is the basis on which I have included them in my list.

And EU countries Luxembourg, UK, Portugal, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania aren't on your list.

I am not aware that any of those countries has an online platform which allows download of tender drawings for major highway construction projects.  The UK has several platforms which in principle could be used to host construction drawings, but is quite backward in terms of E-procurement for trunk roads construction works, partly because of the legacy of selective tendering (which goes back to the 1960's) and partly because of the heavy reliance on ECI contracts.  The only construction contract whose documentation I have so far managed to download for the UK is a wayfinding signing contract for Oxford (!).

The others, aside from Portugal, might have E-procurement facilities I haven't discovered yet because of the language barrier--it was not until about a month ago, for example, that I discovered TenderNed.nl.  Portugal does have an online platform but I believe it requires that you be linked with a business entity that has a fiscal number from the Portuguese government.

[english si]

I misunderstood you, I thought these were the countries that had access to German plans, not European countries which had access to their plans for all.

[J N Winkler]

I misunderstood you, I thought these were the countries that had access to German plans, not European countries which had access to their plans for all.

My apologies for the confusion--looking back at what I wrote, I see that your interpretation (which is not what I intended to say) is a more natural reading.

Anyway, while we are on the topic, here is a run-down of electronic availability (no requirement to be an EU resident to download drawings, or to register for an account where this is necessary to download drawings):

*  Norway--Doffin (search for "Vegvesen" as authority)

*  Sweden--EU-Supply (search for "Trafikverket" as contracting authority)

*  Austria--AVA-Online ("Veröffentlichte Ausschreibungen" section includes both ASFINAG [trunk highway] and ÖBB [railway] projects)

*  Italy--multiple platforms available (each autostrada concessionaire generally has its own), most linked through AISCAT (on each concessionaire website, the key words to look for are bandi di gara or appalti)

*  France--Marches publics (central government only)

*  Netherlands--TenderNed (central government, including Rijkswaterstaat, as well as provinces and local authorities that choose to publish their tenders online through TenderNed)

*  Belgium--ENot.PublicProcurement.be (despite being "for notifications," it allows the user to preview and download the tender documentation; a search for "Agentschap wegen en verkeer" turns up Flemish road construction projects)

*  Switzerland--Simap (covers ASTRA and some cantonal road authorities; ASTRA makes documentation available for download while some cantonal road authorities require you to order it separately)

*  Denmark--Current tender advertisements (Vejdirektoratet only)

*  Spain--Ministerio de Fomento, SEITT (central government only)

*  Poland--Contracts section of GDDKiA website

Some of these are searchable procurement platforms, while some (e.g. AVA-Online) are lists of currently advertised projects while others (e.g. the Spanish links) are essentially documentation download pages.  Some sites maintain document availability in arrears of the tender opening date, while others don't.

I look at these websites now and again in search of pattern-accurate drawings for signs.  From Sweden and Norway I have learned to expect a steady trickle, from France and Denmark a steady stream, and from the others an occasional surprise.  Spain was good for a veritable river of signing until mid-2009 when the economic crisis bit.

[firefly]

If the Germans do actually start tackling this backlog of infrastructure repairs, I hope they loosen up and let people who are not EU residents download the construction drawings.  Download on these terms is currently possible in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, and France, and in most of these countries (all except Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden) it is possible to do so anonymously.  The German national electronic tendering platform requires that users be registered in order to download construction drawings and other documentation.  To complete registration, users need to obtain a digital certificate, which is issued only when a fee is paid and the user supplies official proof of EU residency (either a German Personalausweis or a passport plus a government-issued document indicating legal residence in an EU country).  Of the EU/EEA countries, Portugal is the only other I am aware of that has a similarly restrictive system.

Do you intend to bid for contracts in the European Union? Or do you want these drawing for a less serious matter?

[Brandon]

If the Germans do actually start tackling this backlog of infrastructure repairs, I hope they loosen up and let people who are not EU residents download the construction drawings.  Download on these terms is currently possible in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Poland, Austria, and France, and in most of these countries (all except Austria, Switzerland, Norway, and Sweden) it is possible to do so anonymously.  The German national electronic tendering platform requires that users be registered in order to download construction drawings and other documentation.  To complete registration, users need to obtain a digital certificate, which is issued only when a fee is paid and the user supplies official proof of EU residency (either a German Personalausweis or a passport plus a government-issued document indicating legal residence in an EU country).  Of the EU/EEA countries, Portugal is the only other I am aware of that has a similarly restrictive system.

Do you intend to bid for contracts in the European Union? Or do you want these drawing for a less serious matter?

Chill, dude.  He looks at the plans that are also available here in the US and Canada from each state and province.  It's for research.

[english si]

If the Germans do actually start tackling this backlog of infrastructure repairs, I hope they loosen up and let people who are not EU residents download the construction drawings.

Thinking about it, it could be the 'little European' mentality, but France lets non-EU residents download and they tend to be just as bad as the Germans when it comes to blocking theoretical expansion of the EU, trade agreements with other parts of the world, etc.

[J N Winkler]

Do you intend to bid for contracts in the European Union? Or do you want these drawing for a less serious matter?

Brandon is right about my motivations for collecting construction drawings.  They are an invaluable resource for scope and design detail, and I have written many posts on this and other forums that have relied on this type of documentation to describe the finished state of specific projects in progress, or to establish a factual basis for broader discussion of design policy (e.g., which states are actually using Clearview, and how).  Others have done the same, and this is becoming more common as more highway agencies start publishing construction plans online and awareness of this type of resource continues to develop in the roadgeek community.

Online procurement platforms are a less-than-ideal method for getting hold of construction drawings, but if no other self-serve option is available, I will use them.  Drawings are public record (even in Germany, since 2006), and simply downloading them saves a lot of trouble compared to the formal process of an open records request.

Thinking about it, it could be the 'little European' mentality, but France lets non-EU residents download and they tend to be just as bad as the Germans when it comes to blocking theoretical expansion of the EU, trade agreements with other parts of the world, etc.

There are some possible explanations.  One is that the main German public-sector procurement platform, EVergabe-online.de, is run by the Interior Ministry (which handles identity cards and residence permits) rather than, as would be logical, the Finance Ministry or a separate government department that handles company registrations and industrial promotion.  Another is that the EU residency requirement is a hangover of the culture of Amtsgeheimnis (official confidentiality) within German officialdom, which in theory was disposed of by the Informationsfreiheitsgesetz of 2005 but which other anecdotal evidence (e.g. proposals by the German Foreign Ministry to charge very high fees for FOI requests) suggests is dying a very hard death.  (It is perhaps telling that Informationsfreiheitsgesetz--a literal German translation of "Freedom of information law"--is only the short title; the full title translates as "Law for regulating access to the information of the Federation.")  In any case, only nine of the sixteen German states have "baby FOI" laws governing access to records held at the state and local level.

France, on the other hand, has had a freedom-of-information law since the 1970's, and the limited case of public tendering through an online procurement platform is one where I see French officialdom's dirigiste tendencies operating to the benefit of the man in the street.  Dissemination of contract drawings for public works projects is, after all, a type of official publication.  On the Marches-publics site, the French government actually used to require you to supply a name (none of the other fields that ask for identifying ciphers was obligatory), but at some point during Sarkozy's presidency the site was changed to create an option for anonymous download.

[firefly]

Brandon is right about my motivations for collecting construction drawings.  They are an invaluable resource for scope and design detail, and I have written many posts on this and other forums that have relied on this type of documentation to describe the finished state of specific projects in progress, or to establish a factual basis for broader discussion of design policy (e.g., which states are actually using Clearview, and how).  Others have done the same, and this is becoming more common as more highway agencies start publishing construction plans online and awareness of this type of resource continues to develop in the roadgeek community.

Are you looking for drawings like the ones which are linked here. Or rather detailed design?

[J N Winkler]

Are you looking for drawings like the ones which are linked here. Or rather detailed design?

I would say detailed design.  After looking at the drawings you linked to, I would say they correspond to a US construction plans set at the 30% design stage, though perhaps at a somewhat higher level of detail than is usually the case in the US.  The drawings give a good idea of how the various elements of the bypass fit together, but some elements are missing that would be expected in a finished design, such as sign layouts and sign panel details for the signs which have to be provided at the grade-separated junction and at the roundabout, and design details for the bridges.

In the US, FAPG § 630(b) Supplement is the bible for what highway authorities expect to be included in a finished set of construction plans, though it omits guidelines for many of the functional disciplines (such as lighting, signing, ITS, guardrail, pavement markings, fencing, etc.) that are included in a typical comprehensive construction project.  For each of these other disciplines, the norm (not always followed in all states) is to have layout sheets, detail sheets, elevation sheets, summary sheets, and standard plan sheets.