Recognizing the need to improve and maintain highway infrastructure despite limited public funds, Germany began updating its laws in 1994 and is now moving towards implementing public-private partnerships. Faced with nearly a half-trillion deutschmarks in needed improvements and only 20.8 billion deutschmarks budgeted toward improvements, Germany has recognized that it is no longer in a position to carry out all needed road inprovements from its tax revenues.[134] As a result, the German government has recognized the need to legally clear the way and facilitate public-private partnerships in transportation infrastructure.
The Act Concerning the Private Financing of the Construction of Certain Parts of Highways came into force in 1994, providing the legal basis for privately financing highways and establishing the right of investors to charge toll fees. Yet the limited scope of the legislation only allowed such partnerships to be utilized in the construction of bridges, tunnels, and mountain roads. Proponents of public-private partnerships in Germany have called for the relaxation of laws so that private funding can finance more projects, and private entities can not only construct highways, but operate them as well. The private contractor could then either charge a toll for road use, or be paid by the State on a "shadow toll" basis.[135]
As last reported, two public-private partnership projects have already been procured, and a third is under construction: the river crossway for the rivers Warnow and Trave. The feasibility of 13 projects, valued at nearly 6 billion Deutschmarks, was still being examined.