is an
orbital motorway
A ring road (also known as circular road, beltline, beltway, circumferential (high)way, loop, bypass or orbital) is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town, city, or country. The most common purpose of a ring road is to assist i ...
around the German capital city of
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
. Colloquially called ''Berliner Ring'', it is predominantly located in the state of
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
, with a short stretch of in Berlin itself. It should not be confused with the ''Berliner Stadtring'' (
Bundesautobahn 100
is an Autobahn in Germany.
The A 100 partially encloses the city centre of the German capital Berlin, running from the Wedding district of the Berlin- Mitte borough in a southwestern arc through Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf and Tempelhof-Sch ...
) around Berlin's inner city.
With a total length of , the BAB 10 is the longest orbital in Europe, being longer than the
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
around
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.
Course
![Berliner Ring](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Berliner_Ring.JPG)
The
highway route markers
A highway location marker is the modern-day equivalent of a milestone. Unlike traditional milestones, however, which (as their name suggests) were originally carved from stone and sited at one-mile intervals, modern highway location markers are m ...
run clockwise from the
interchange at
Schwanebeck
Schwanebeck is a small town in the district of Harz, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") Vorharz.
The municipal area is situated northeast of Halberstadt, on the ''Bundesstraße 245'' hig ...
(the former
Prenzlau
Prenzlau (, formerly also Prenzlow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, the administrative seat of Uckermark (district), Uckermark District. It is also the centre of the historic Uckermark region.
Geography
The town is located on the Uecker, Ucke ...
branch-off), where the
Bundesautobahn 11
is an autobahn in eastern Germany that was opened in 1936. As it is partly in a dilapidated state, it is currently undergoing modernisation works on various stretches. The road forms the main connection between Berlin and Szczecin, and it is conn ...
runs to
Szczecin
Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major s ...
, Poland via the
Pomellen/
Kołbaskowo
Kołbaskowo (formerly german: Kolbitzow, (historically): ''Colbitzow'') is a village in Police County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-western Poland, close to the German border. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called ...
border crossing and the Polish
A6 autostrada. From here the beltway leads southwards to the
Spreeau interchange with the
Bundesautobahn 12
, also known as Autobahn der Freiheit (English: ''Motorway of Freedom'') is an autobahn in northeastern Germany, connecting Berlin to the Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* ...
to
Frankfurt (Oder)
Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (), is a city in the German state of Brandenburg. It has around 57,000 inhabitants, is one of the easternmost cities in Germany, the fourth-largest city in Brandenburg, and the largest German ...
and the Polish
A2 autostrada. At the
Schönefeld
Schönefeld (meaning ''beautiful field'') is a suburban municipality in the Dahme-Spreewald district, Brandenburg, Germany. It borders the southeastern districts of Berlin. The municipal area encompasses the old Berlin Schönefeld Airport (SXF) a ...
four-way interchange, the
Bundesautobahn 13
is an autobahn in eastern Germany, connecting Berlin with Dresden.
History
The course of the A 13 was initially planned differently in the early 1930s than later realized. The alignment was originally about 30 kilometers further west between Go ...
leads to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
and the
Bundesautobahn 113
is a motorway in Germany. The motorway, located within Berlin, connects Neukölln (from the A 100) to Schönefeld (ends to the A 10). Its last segment opened on 23 May 2008.
The route of the motorway follows, in parts, the former Ber ...
to the ''Berliner Stadtring'' and the Berlin city centre via
Berlin Brandenburg Airport
Berlin Brandenburg Airport ''Willy Brandt'' (german: Flughafen Berlin Brandenburg "Willy Brandt", , ) is an international airport in Schönefeld, just south of the Germany, German capital Berlin in the state of Brandenburg. Named after the f ...
.
The Berliner Ring then runs westwards to
Nuthetal
Nuthetal is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.
Geography
''Nuthetal'' is situated south-west of Berlin. The area was formed from a series of large moraines during the last ice age.
The municipality originat ...
, where the
Bundesautobahn 115
is an autobahn in Berlin, Germany. It connects the Bundesautobahn 100, Berliner Stadtring with the Bundesautobahn 10, Berliner Ring, using parts of the old AVUS race track. AVUS was opened in 1921 as Germany's first limited access road. After Wor ...
(including the former
AVUS
The Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße ('Automobile traffic and training road'), known as AVUS, is a public road in Berlin, Germany. Opened in 1921, it was also used as a motor racing circuit until 1998. Today, the AVUS forms the northern par ...
race track) also links to the ''Stadtring'' at the
Funkturm Berlin
The Berliner Funkturm or Funkturm Berlin (Berlin Radio Tower) is a former broadcasting tower in Berlin. Constructed between 1924 and 1926 to designs by the architect Heinrich Straumer, it was inaugurated on 3 September 1926, on the occasion of ...
. Next the
Bundesautobahn 9
is an autobahn in Germany, connecting Berlin and Munich via Leipzig and Nuremberg. It is the fifth longest autobahn spanning .
Route
The northern terminus of the A 9 is at the Potsdam interchange, where it merges into the A 10, ...
leads to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...
(at the
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
interchange) and the
Bundesautobahn 2
is an autobahn in Germany that connects the Ruhr area in the west to Berlin in the east. The A 2 starts at the junction with the A3 near the western city of Oberhausen, passes through the north of the Ruhr valley, through the Münsterland ...
to the
Ruhr
The Ruhr ( ; german: Ruhrgebiet , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr area, sometimes Ruhr district, Ruhr region, or Ruhr valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 2,800/km ...
area (at
Werder). From here the beltway runs northwards to the
Dreieck Havelland interchange with the
Bundesautobahn 24
is an autobahn in northern Germany that connects the large metropolitan regions of Hamburg and Berlin. It was one of the three transit access roads to West Berlin during the Cold War.
On that road, there is a 150 km (93 mi) long sectio ...
to
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, and finally turns eastwards to the
Oranienburg
Oranienburg () is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.
Geography
Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.
Division of the town
Oranienburg ...
and
Pankow
Pankow () is the most populous and the second-largest borough by area of Berlin. In Berlin's 2001 administrative reform, it was merged with the former boroughs of Prenzlauer Berg and Weißensee; the resulting borough retained the name Pankow. P ...
interchanges with the
Bundesautobahn 111
is an autobahn in Germany. It connects the Berliner Stadtring (A 100) with the Berliner Ring (A 10). Before reunification, it was called the A 11. The A 111 was used from 31 December 1987 to German reunification in 1990 for trans ...
and
Bundesautobahn 114
is a motorway in the north of the German capital Berlin. It connects the A 10 (''Berliner Ring'') starting at the Autobahndreieck Pankow over a seven kilometers distance to the main center of Berlin. The motorway was released for traffic be ...
motorways both leading to the ''Berliner Stadtring''. It again reaches Schwanebeck at km 196.
The beginning and end of the kilometer is the cross Barnim, which until 2013 Dreieck Schwanebeck was called. From there, the A11 from Stettin / Prenzlau joins the A10. In the direction of the kilometering (clockwise), the A12 leads from the outside at the triangle Spreeau, at the junction Schoenefeld the A13, at the triangle Potsdam the A9, at the triangle Werder the A 2 and at the triangle Havelland the A 24 in the Berliner Ring. The highway is connected to the Berliner Stadtring (A 100) and other parts of Berlin via the A 111 (Oranienburg), A 114 (Pankow), A 113 (Kreuz Schönefeld) and A 115 (Nuthetal), the northern part is called AVUS known), which open from the inside into the ring. The junctions Ludwigsfelde-Ost and Berlin-Spandau as well as the Oranienburg cross lead to motorway-like developed federal highways.
History
The first sections near Werder, Schwanebeck and Spreeau were opened between 1936 and the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
in 1939 as part of the ''
Reichsautobahn
The ''Reichsautobahn'' system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under the Weimar Republic, and two had been constructed, but work had yet to star ...
'' program. Construction works were not resumed until 1972, when the
East German
East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
authorities began to complete the orbital, in order to bypass
West Berlin
West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...
on the way from the capital
East Berlin
East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...
to
Potsdam
Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...
and the motorways leading to
Magdeburg
Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river.
Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...
and
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
. The final stretch opened in 1979.
Those that are built from 1972 to 1979:
In the section between the former Berlin-Weißensee junction and the Berlin-Spandau interchange, the freeway completed today does not follow the original route.
East of today's triangle Pankow (A 114) on the B 109 the junction Pankow-Wandlitz should be created. From there, the projected route between the villages of Mühlenbeck and Schildow ran through to the planned Nordkreuz, which was to be built around one kilometer south of Schönfließ. It was planned to create a motorway interchange from the current A 11 south of Lanke to the designated feeder road in Wittenau. In the further course, the connection points Reinickendorf-Oranienburg were planned on the B 96 south of the Invalidensiedlung in Reinickendorf and Tegel-Hennigsdorf south of Velten. From there, the proposed route followed essentially the present day Berlin railroad outer ring to the junction Spandau-Pausin on the L 16. Immediately south of today's Havel Canal was the Hamburg Cross projected. From the planned junction Heerstraße-Nauen on the B 5 (today's name: Berlin-Spandau), the Berliner Ring has been built up to the junction Potsdam-Nord on the original route.
During the construction of the motorway Berlin-Szczecin-South (today: Kołbaskowo) in 1936 was built in the northern branch of the intersection Weißensee a gas station, which was however demolished without replacement in the course of the further construction of the ring and the redesign of the junction. During the reconstruction of the AD Schwanebeck (today: motorway junction Barnim) in 2012, part of the area was uncovered. The two fuel tanks still in the ground were full of water, but could be easily removed.
Planning
According to a press release by Brandenburg Transport Minister Jörg Vogelsänger on 1 February 2011, the motorway from the Junction Kremmen-South on the A 24 via the Havelland triangle to the Barnim cross in 2022 will be passable in six lanes. This relieves the busy northern Berliner Ring. At Oranienburg alone, 51,000 vehicles a day are on the road, just under a fifth of which are trucks. The total cost of the project is expected to total around 300 million euros.
In the course of expansion, the triangle Schwanebeck was redesigned into a motorway junction and renamed "Cross Barnim". The main roadway is now the Berliner Ring and not the direction of the northern Berliner Ring - A 11. The Berlin-Weißensee junction is omitted because of the immediate proximity to the motorway junction. Instead, the B 2 was transferred directly to the A 11 and at the same time the A 11 to 2.0 km fundamentally removed and rebuilt. The construction work began in the spring of 2010 with extensive clearing measures in the area of the motorway triangle Schwanebeck (construction plan) and the bridge construction between Weissensee and the triangle Pankow on the A 10. The groundbreaking ceremony for the conversion took place on 5 May 2011. After a construction period of 29 months, the motorway junction was officially handed over to traffic on November 11, 2013.
In July 2011, the planning approval decision for the six-lane expansion from the Neuruppin junction (A 24) to the junction Oberkrämer (A 10) including the reconstruction of the Havelland triangle was published. On 17 September 2012, the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the section triangle Havelland Kremmen. Overall, it was expected to cost 52 million euros. The European Union contributed €18 million to the financing from the European Regional Development Fund. The developed section was put into operation on September 27, 2014. In addition, on 7 October 2015, the developed section of Berlin was opened to traffic.
The route between the triangle Nuthetal and the triangle Potsdam should be expanded eight-lane. The construction costs are estimated at around 123 million euros, the plan approval decision is available since January 2013. 61 additional truck parking spaces are planned for the Michendorf service area. The afforestation as a compensatory measure for the environment are now carried out close to local complaints, instead of as originally planned by Ribbeck or Thyrow, also the use of open-pored asphalt (whispering asphalt) at Michendorf has now been included in the planning. On the noise barriers to be built originally photovoltaic systems were planned with a capacity of about 7.5 MWp. The tendering procedure for the construction of these "solar noise barriers" started in September 2013 and a private investor was to be found for this purpose. This was to bear the costs of increasing the originally planned six to eight-meter-high noise barriers to about ten meters and recover the associated additional costs of marketing the solar power. After no investor found this, the project for the construction of the photovoltaic systems and the increase of the noise protection walls is considered as failed. The start of construction of the section took place with the official ground-breaking ceremony on March 31, 2016, the costs are now reported at 150 million euros.
The section between the triangle Werder and Groß Kreutz is to be expanded to six lanes. These measures are in the urgent need of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan. The replacement of the bridge over the Zernsee between the junctions Phöben and Leest has already been built six lanes, with currently only two lanes are released in each direction. Furthermore, the six-lane extension between Groß Kreutz and Havelland is planned (further demand with planning rights). In the area of the Berlin-Spandau interchange, the overpass of the newly built Federal Highway 5 has already been prepared for the upcoming expansion, as well as the double bridge over the Havel Canal in the further course.
Exit list
See also
*
List of motorways in Germany
The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...
*
Périphérique (Paris)
*
M25 motorway
The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a major road encircling most of Greater London. The motorway is one of the most important roads in the UK and one of the busiest. Margaret Thatcher opened the final section in 1986, making the M25 the lon ...
(
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
)
*
Capital Beltway
The Capital Beltway is a Interstate Highway in the Washington metropolitan area that surrounds Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. It is the basis of the phrase "inside th ...
(
Washington, DC
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...
)
*
MKAD
The Moscow Automobile Ring Road (russian: link=no, Московская кольцевая автомобильная дорога, Moskovskaja koltsevaya avtomobilnaya doroga), or MKAD (), is a ring road running predominantly on the city border ...
(
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
)
*
A10 motorway (Netherlands)
The A10 motorway ( nl, Rijksweg 10) is a motorway in the Netherlands. This motorway is the ring road around the city of Amsterdam. It has a length of . Five other motorways connect to the A10: motorway A8 at interchange Coenplein (north), motorw ...
(
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
)
References
External links
{{bundesautobahn
10
A010
A010
Ring roads in Germany
Constituent roads of European route E30
Buildings and structures in Oberhavel