Research company for roads and traffic

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Research Society for Roads and Transportation e. V.
(FGSV)
FGSV-Logo.jpg
purpose Research society
Chair: Elfriede Sauerwein-Braksiek
Executive Director: Michael Rohleder
Establishment date: October 1924
Number of members: around 2500
as of the end of 2017
Seat : Cologne , Germany , An Lyskirchen 14 GermanyGermany 
Website: www.fgsv.de

The Research Association for Roads and Transportation e. V. ( FGSV for short ) is a German, non-profit, technical and scientific association based in Cologne , whose main objective is to further develop technical knowledge in the entire road and transport sector. The research company was founded in Berlin in 1924 . In the 1980s, the FGSV Verlag was spun off, which sells the regulations and books.

structure

The general assembly of the association elects a board and the chairman of the board. The board appoints a managing director . Two committees are subordinate to this management level : the Transport Coordinating Committee and the Construction Coordinating Committee, as well as some cross-sectional committees and commissions. The coordination committees lead the technical work of working groups (AG). There are a total of 65 working committees and 160 working groups in which around 2,100 transport experts are active (as of 2017).

tasks

Principles

Essential tasks are the establishment and updating of guidelines and recommendations for road construction, road traffic engineering and traffic planning . Members of such working groups or working groups (AG) are experts from science, business, authorities and planning offices.

Meetings

The working groups also help to organize the exchange of experiences through workshops , meetings and congresses and control and publish relevant research results. The FGSV organizes the meetings of the experts as well as the publication of the regulations via the FGSV Verlag . In addition, a comprehensive exchange of experience takes place under the responsibility of the FGSV, which the German Road and Transport Congress serves in particular . It is held every two years in a different major German city and is accompanied by a specialist exhibition.

Research, database, library

In cooperation with the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt), the FGSV oversees various research projects from the field of transport as a whole. It maintains extensive databases for this supervised research work as well as for numerous specialist literature publications , which can be used by anyone interested after registering by telephone on site or after registering via the Internet. The material includes more than 40,000 documents. The library of the information and documentation center of the FGSV has more than 30,000 media.

As the European states grow together, international cooperation in the field of road and transport is becoming increasingly important. The FGSV also addresses this issue, for example through cooperation with the Swiss VSS , the Austrian FSV , the Dutch CROW and the Hungarian MAUT .

Norms

Some working bodies act in cooperation with the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) as mirror committees to the corresponding committees within the Comité Européen de Normalization (CEN) and thus contribute to the development of European standards.

Awarding of awards

As an award for outstanding work in the field of planning, design and operation of city and country roads, the FGSV awards the Max-Erich-Feuchtinger / Bruno-Wehner Foundation's medal every two years . The awardees include young scientists up to 45 years of age.

Furthermore, excellent work in the field of asphalt road construction is supported by the award of the Lüer-Nadel , in the field of concrete road construction by the award of the Otto Graf Prize and the Transport Construction Prize.

history

1920 to 1930

When the production and use of automobiles began on a large scale in the 1920s , better organization of the construction of roads and the regulation of traffic was imperative. Until then, the streets were designed for use by horse - drawn vehicles, and neither the road materials nor the widths of the lanes were uniform, and there were no road signs or traffic rules that were valid for all of Germany . This all-round pressure ultimately led to the foundation of the Study Society for Automobile Road Construction (StufA) in Berlin on October 15, 1924 . The most important tasks were decided: The

  • Creation of routes that are suitable for automobiles and
  • Creation of guidelines for road design .

Before that, a public transport company had already been founded in Berlin with its headquarters at Neue Wilhelmstrasse 1. In accordance with the agreed basic tasks, the StufA did not conduct any selfless transport research from the start, but instead exerted a targeted influence on transport policy. With the development of road construction guidelines, the StufA was perceived as an organization with a quasi-official character. That secured her influence and recognition at the same time. In addition to issuing road construction guidelines and technical leaflets, the company also engaged in self-confident lobbying . The StufA general assembly in Gdansk in July 1930 unanimously passed a resolution which, in view of declining investments in road construction due to the economic crisis, demanded:

"[...] that road construction is promoted with the help of loan funds of all kinds under the most favorable conditions possible, and so high that an increased expansion activity can take place compared to the construction activity in recent years."

National Socialism

During the time of National Socialism (NS), the influence of the StufA on German road construction increased considerably: In December 1934 it was renamed the Research Society for Roads (FGS). The first chairman at the time, Fritz Todt , was appointed inspector general for German roads in 1933; integration into the Nazi apparatus was complete. After Todt was killed in a plane crash in 1942, Albert Speer took over the chairmanship. In December 1945 the Allied Control Council dissolved the company.

1946 to 1990

After the end of the Second World War and in overcoming the ordered dissolution, the Research Society for Roads was revived in 1946 with the help of the American occupying forces . In 1947 a new founding congress took place in Bielefeld using the familiar name again. The new research company took its seat in Cologne . Its first chairman was Christoph Großjohann in 1947 , who held the post until his death in 1953.

The sphere of activity of the research community was limited to the old Federal Republic of Germany until reunification . In the first half of the eighties the association was renamed the Research Society for Roads and Transport .

Since 1990

In 1990 the management at the time made contact with experts from the GDR . In particular, the aim was to merge with some facilities of the VEB Autobahnbaukombinat, which operates with similar goals . They were gradually integrated into the committees, thus ensuring the preservation and joint further development of the specialist knowledge that had arisen.

In the course of the decades, completely new technical regulations have emerged which define almost everything to do with roads and traffic in Germany, mostly in coordination with the neighboring European countries.

Since the 1990s, the various tasks and work structures, especially the specialist working groups, have been constantly adapted to the current requirements of the rapidly increasing motorization and technical development since the early 1950s . At the same time, the recommendations for bicycle traffic facilities (ERA 1995, ERA 2010) were drawn up.

From 1998 to 2013 the company had an additional office in Berlin-Mitte (Boyenstrasse), where FGSV Verlag also has a branch. Currently (as of May 2020) extensive renovation measures are taking place in the Berlin office, as reactivation is planned for 2020. The voluntary employees of the numerous FGSV committees should then - as in the past - have the opportunity to hold meetings in the modernized and reopened office. For the duration of the work, the branch of the FGSV Verlag has moved to rooms in Berlin-Johannisthal .

In 2009 the FGSV also changed its administrative headquarters within Cologne. For years it was based in Cologne-Rodenkirchen , now it is in the old center of the city.

Personalities

In addition to the chairmen named in the previous text, Kurt Lüer (1863-1946), inventor and “initiator of tar and asphalt road construction on German country roads”, is particularly emphasized: in 1925 he formed the working committees on tar roads and road machines . He is the namesake of the Lüer Foundation, founded in 1963

Previous managing directors of the FGSV (selection):

  • 1997–2013: Hans Walter Horz
  • since November 1, 2013: Michael Rohleder

criticism

The February 2016 edition of the magazine mobilogisch! published a critical article on the politics and structure of the FGSV on the basis of its original documents (resignation letter): The FGSV, whose committees determine the German transport system from the green time at traffic lights to the width of highways, is based on an ancient, male , similar to FIFA dominated network, those affected do not participate in the establishment of rules, are not democratically legitimized and are not in a position to carry out a long overdue structural reform. Among other things, Klaus J. Beckmann , former President of the German Institute for Urban Studies (DIFU) resigned after the failure of reform efforts at the end of 2014, and Helmut Holzapfel from his post as a member of the Transport Forecast Committee at the end of 2015 .

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Change in FGSV management to www.bast.de (page 3), accessed on April 9, 2019.
  2. ↑ CROW website (Dutch) , accessed April 9, 2019.
  3. ↑ Lüer Foundation of the FGSV ( Memento from March 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Access is restricted for data protection reasons.
  4. ^ Public limited company for transport . In: Berliner Adreßbuch , 1918, part 1, p. 16. “Board member of the Secret Commerce Councilor Friedrich Lenz and Real Legation Councilor Dr. Adolf Boyé ”.
  5. ↑ Burkhard Horn: The engine dictates: Insights into the interrelationships between traffic and urban planning in Germany since the beginning of automobiles. Kassel 1992, p. 39.
  6. ^ Announcements of the Study Society for Automobile Road Construction, 7/1930, August 8, 1930, p. 1.
  7. ↑ The FGSV bibliography 1924 to 2004 indicates the transition from 1982 to 1983, but the naming of the individual publications is not consistent in this regard.
  8. ^ Hans Christoph Graf von Seherr-Thoß:  Lüer, Kurt. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 15, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1987, ISBN 3-428-00196-6 , p. 459 ( digitized version ).
  9. ↑ Michael Rohleder new managing director of the FGSV on www.dvz.de; accessed on April 9, 2019.
  10. ↑ Structural reform in the FGSV does not take place: Resignations show problems . In: mobilogisch! Working group traffic and environment REVERSE e. V., FUSS e. V. Fachverband Fußverkehr Deutschland (Ed.), No. 1/16, February 2016, p. 53.