Transport system · Roads
Road infrastructure
Germany's federal trunk roads carry most of the country's freight and a large share of its commuting. This sheet explains who owns, plans, pays for and repairs them, and sets out what Steffen Bilger has said and decided about roads, first as Parliamentary State Secretary and since July 2026 as Federal Minister for Transport.
- Subject
- Autobahns and federal roads (Bundesfernstraßen)
- Network
- 50,956 km on 1 January 2025
- Status
- New financing law approved by cabinet, 7 Oct 2026
- Sources
- BMV, Autobahn GmbH, Bundestag, press interviews
Section A — the system
Who is responsible for which road
Germany's roads are split by owner. The federal government owns the federal trunk roads, the Bundesfernstraßen. These are the Autobahns and the Bundesstraßen, the numbered federal roads such as the B 10 or the B 27. Länder (state) roads, district roads and municipal streets belong to the Länder, districts and towns.
On 1 January 2025 the federal trunk-road network measured 50,956 kilometres: 13,210 km of Autobahn and 37,746 km of federal roads. The Autobahn network is short compared with the rest of the road system, but it carries a heavy load of long-distance freight and commuter traffic. Most of the country's lorry traffic depends on it (see freight transport).
Since 1 January 2021 the motorways have been managed by Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes. This is a company wholly owned by the federal government, and it plans, builds, operates and maintains the Autobahns. Before 2021 the Länder did this work on the federal government's behalf, an arrangement called Auftragsverwaltung (delegated administration). Federal roads that are not motorways have generally stayed with the Länder road authorities under that delegated model.
Alongside the company there is the Fernstraßen-Bundesamt (Federal Highway Authority, FBA), based in Leipzig. It is the neutral authority that exercises public powers over the Autobahns. It approves building plans (Planfeststellung), formally designates roads for public use and supervises the Autobahn GmbH. Within the Federal Ministry for Transport (BMV), the directorate-general for federal highways (StB) steers the company. The budget directorate manages the federal shareholdings in the Autobahn GmbH, the toll operator Toll Collect and the planning company DEGES.
Money: budget, toll and the special fund
Road building has traditionally been paid for out of the annual federal budget, the Einzelplan 12 for transport. Users also pay through the truck toll (Lkw-Maut). It has been charged on Autobahns since 2005 and later on federal roads. A CO2 surcharge was added in December 2023, and in July 2024 the toll was extended to lorries over 3.5 tonnes. Truck-toll revenue is put at €13.48 billion for 2026 and €13.2 billion in the 2027 draft. The 2027 government draft plans €4.36 billion of Autobahn GmbH investment and €2.04 billion for its operations, planning and administration. A separate stream comes from the €500 billion special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, set up in 2025, which mainly pays for maintenance (see infrastructure investment).
Critics have long argued that yearly budgeting is a poor fit for road projects that take a decade. A motorway widening cannot easily be paused or sped up from one budget year to the next. That is the background to the financing reform Bilger took to cabinet in October 2026, described below.
Diagram
The life of a road
Every section of Autobahn passes through the same five stages. Problems at any stage, such as slow approvals, uncertain funding or deferred maintenance, show up years later as congestion, weight limits or closures.
Planning
Route choice, environmental assessment, public consultation and plan approval by the Fernstraßen-Bundesamt. Projects need a place in the federal transport requirements plan.
Funding
Federal budget (Einzelplan 12), truck-toll revenue and, since 2025, the infrastructure special fund. From 2027, limited borrowing by the Autobahn GmbH (draft law).
Construction
Tendering and building by the Autobahn GmbH or, for some projects, the planning company DEGES. Large schemes can also be public–private partnerships.
Maintenance
Inspection, winter service, resurfacing, bridge checks and traffic management. Worn-out sections can lead to lane closures or weight limits.
Renewal
Replacement of worn pavement and ageing structures, above all the bridges built before 1985. Renewal often means re-planning, so the cycle starts again.
Section B — where it hurts
Congestion, maintenance and the renewal backlog
Most of the Autobahn network's present problems are about age, not length. About 55% of its bridge structures were built before 1985, for lighter traffic and lighter lorries than today's. Around 4,000 of them are to be modernised on a priority network of about 7,000 kilometres of heavily used transit routes. When an ageing bridge has to be closed, as on the A 45 at Lüdenscheid or the A 565 in Bonn, traffic is pushed onto local roads for years. The bridges sheet covers these cases in detail.
Roadworks are a second source of pressure. Renewing a carriageway under traffic means narrowed lanes and lower speed limits. The 2026 low-water emergency on the Rhine showed how closely the systems are linked. Among the federal–state measures listed in August 2026 were exceptions to the Sunday driving ban for lorries and better coordination of Autobahn roadworks, because cargo that could not travel by ship had to move by road or rail (see logistics).
The third pressure is money over time. The special fund mostly pays for maintenance. ZDF and Logistik Heute reported in July 2026 that core-budget gaps of billions open up from 2028, which leaves new road and rail projects underfunded. In the September 2026 budget debate the AfD's Wolfgang Wiehle asked for more money for Autobahn repairs. The Greens' Tarek Al-Wazir criticised the shrinking investment budget overall.
Documented: ministerial decision
The new Autobahn financing structure
On 7 October 2026 the federal cabinet approved a draft law changing how the motorway company is financed. Bundestag and Bundesrat have yet to deal with it; it is a cabinet decision, not enacted law.
User financing
From 2028 the Autobahn GmbH is to receive the infrastructure share of truck-toll revenue directly. According to the ministry this share is currently about €4.5 billion a year.
Budget funds
Federal budget money continues alongside the toll share.
Private capital
From 2027 the company gains a limited ability to borrow. The ministry says this allows multi-year planning and also supports public–private partnership projects.
Ownership is unchanged. The federal government remains sole owner of the Autobahns and of the company, and direct or indirect participation by third parties is excluded. In his budget speech of 8 September 2026 Bilger had announced the coalition's agreement on the bill and said financing should in future be „überjährig, flexibel und verlässlich“ ("multi-year, flexible and reliable", translation).
Wir leiten einen Paradigmenwechsel bei der Autobahnfinanzierung ein und schaffen mehr Spielraum für Investitionen in unsere Autobahnen.
“We are initiating a paradigm shift in Autobahn financing and creating more room for investment in our motorways.” (translation)
Steffen Bilger, BMV press release 093/2026, 7 October 2026
Die Autobahnen bleiben vollständig in öffentlicher Hand – der Bund bleibt Eigentümer.
“The Autobahns remain entirely in public hands; the federal government remains the owner.” (translation)
Steffen Bilger, BMV press release 093/2026, 7 October 2026
Documented position and its critics
The speed-limit question
Germany is one of very few countries without a general speed limit on its motorways. Bilger has stated his position on the record several times since taking office.
General Autobahn speed limit
Documented position
In an interview with Bild on 9 August 2026 Bilger said: Nein, ich halte nichts von einem Tempolimit.
("No, I don't think much of a speed limit", translation). He argued that German motorways are very safe by European comparison and said: Ich halte es für sinnvoller, Telematiklösungen auszuweiten
("I think it makes more sense to expand telematics solutions", translation). By that he meant variable limits that change with weather and traffic.
To the Berliner Morgenpost on 14 September 2026 he said he doubted there was much CO2 to be saved and saw no notable safety effect. He added: Ein Tempolimit würde außerdem die Spaltung im Land noch einmal verstärken, weil es viele als Einschränkung ihrer Freiheit empfinden würden.
("A speed limit would also deepen the division in the country, because many would feel it restricts their freedom", translation.)
Policy context and criticism
On 8 August 2026, shortly after his appointment, the Greens said the new minister must also be a "climate minister". They called for a speed limit, priority for rail over new Autobahn building, and recognition that the Rhine's low water is a consequence of climate change. Environmental organisations such as the Deutsche Umwelthilfe have long campaigned for a limit.
Variable limits already exist: overhead gantries (Verkehrsbeeinflussungsanlagen) adjust speeds on busy sections. The disagreement is whether to expand that system or to set a general cap. The climate side of the argument is covered on sustainable transport.
Section C — the record
What is documented about Bilger and roads
Roads are not a new subject for him. In a September 2018 interview with the trade magazine trans aktuell, published on eurotransport.de, he described his responsibilities as Parliamentary State Secretary in the then Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure: Ich bin zuständig für Straße, Auto, alternative Antriebe, Luftverkehr und Digitalisierung.
("I am responsible for roads, cars, alternative drives, aviation and digitalisation", translation). The transfer of the Autobahns to the new federal company was prepared during that 2018–2021 term. The sources consulted for this sheet do not describe a personal role for him in that reform, so none is claimed here.
As minister, his road decisions so far are few but significant. The financing bill described above is the most important; he himself called it a paradigm shift. In September 2026 the ministry approved revised plans for a second Rhine bridge on the B 293 between Wörth and Karlsruhe, which lets the two Länder restart the approval procedure for that federal road scheme. In the Bild interview he pointed to the widening of the A 3 near Erlangen as an example of what works: Drei Milliarden Investitionen, 76 Kilometer, die da ausgebaut wurden
("three billion of investment, 76 kilometres that were widened there", translation). He added that Deutschland kann Infrastruktur
("Germany can do infrastructure"), a line he repeated in the Bundestag.
On the use of the network, his record so far is the speed-limit position set out above and the truck fast-charging programme at Autobahn sites, which is covered on freight transport. How the new financing structure works in practice will only become clear once the bill has passed parliament and the first toll share is paid to the company in 2028. Until then it remains an announced reform, not a completed one.
Sources
- BMV — Längenstatistik der Bundesfernstraßen (as of 1 Jan 2025)
- BMV — Organisation chart (2 Oct 2026)
- VerkehrsRundschau — Leipzig wird Sitz des neuen Fernstraßen-Bundesamtes
- BMV — Press release 093/2026: Neue Finanzierungsstruktur für die Autobahn (7 Oct 2026)
- Bundesregierung — Speech by Steffen Bilger on the 2027 budget (8 Sep 2026)
- Deutscher Bundestag — Budget debate, transport (Einzelplan 12) (8 Sep 2026)
- Deutscher Bundestag, hib — 2027 transport budget draft (19 Aug 2026)
- BMV — Interview with Bild (9 Aug 2026)
- BMV — Interview with Berliner Morgenpost (14 Sep 2026)
- RNZ — Greens: new transport minister must do more for the climate (8 Aug 2026)
- Die Autobahn GmbH des Bundes — FAQ on bridges
- BMV — Press release 075/2026: low water (12 Aug 2026)
- BMV — Press release 086/2026: B 293 second Rhine bridge (15 Sep 2026)
- ZDFheute — Tasks facing the new transport minister (27 Jul 2026)
- eurotransport / trans aktuell — Interview with Parliamentary State Secretary Steffen Bilger (7 Sep 2018)
- VerkehrsRundschau — Bundestag passes Infrastruktur-Zukunftsgesetz (26 Jun 2026)