http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-29/german-potholes-risk-growth-prospects-in-land-of-autobahn.html
The maker of metal-processing plants, which ships products around the world, says damaged bridges makes getting them from its headquarters in Hilchenbach, Germany, to harbors such as Hamburg or Antwerp the hardest part. Transport of parts that weigh between 50 tons and 300 tons takes four times longer than it did in 2010 and has become five times more expensive.
The disrepair of German roads and bridges is at odds with a nation known for the autobahn and has become a symbol of an infrastructure neglect that may jeopardize the country’s growth prospects. Calls for greater investment clash with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s promise of a balanced budget, a pledge she’s sticking to even as the economy stutters and the rest of the euro region finds scant resources for spending.
“If Germany continues on the economic path it’s currently pursuing and doesn’t boost investment, in only five years from now it could be in a much worse position internationally,” Marcel Fratzscher, president of the DIW Institute for Economic Research in Berlin, said in a phone interview.
The trend already shows. At 1.5 percent, German growth will be less than half that of the U.S. next year and lag expansions in the U.K., Canada and Spain, according to forecasts by the International Monetary Fund.
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