![Autobahn-A3-Flughafen-Rhein-Main-2013-Ffm-035](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/54/Autobahn-A3-Flughafen-Rhein-Main-2013-Ffm-035.jpg)
The (; German plural ) is the federal
controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
system in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'.
German are widely known for having no federally mandated general
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
for some classes of vehicles.
However, limits are posted and enforced in areas that are urbanised, substandard, accident-prone, or under construction. On speed-unrestricted stretches, an
advisory speed limit
An advisory speed limit is a speed recommendation by a governing body, used when it may be non-obvious to the driver that the safe speed is below the legal speed. It is a posting which either approximates the Basic Speed Law or rule (and is s ...
() of applies. While driving faster is not illegal as such in the absence of a speed limit, it can cause an increased liability in the case of a collision (which mandatory auto insurance has to cover); courts have ruled that an "ideal driver" who is exempt from absolute liability for "inevitable" tort under the law would not exceed .
A 2017 report by the Federal Road Research Institute reported that in 2015, 70.4% of the Autobahn network had only the advisory speed limit, 6.2% had temporary speed limits due to weather or traffic conditions, and 23.4% had permanent speed limits. Measurements from the German 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 ...
in 2006 showed average speeds of on a 6-lane section of Autobahn in free-flowing conditions.
Network map
Names
Only federally built controlled-access highways with certain construction standards including at least two lanes per direction are called ''Bundesautobahn''. They have their own white-on-blue signs and numbering system. In the 1930s, when construction began on the system, the official name was ''
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 ...
''. Various other controlled-access highways exist on the federal (''
Bundesstraße
''Bundesstraße'' (German for "federal highway"), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.
Germany
Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km.
German ''Bundesstraßen'' ...
''), state (''
Landesstraße
''Landesstraßen'' (singular: ''Landesstraße'') are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads t ...
''), district, and municipal level but are not part of the ''Autobahn'' network and are officially referred to as ''Kraftfahrstraße'' (with rare exceptions, like
A 995 Munich-Giesing–Brunntal until 2018). These highways are considered ''autobahnähnlich'' (autobahn-like) and are sometimes colloquially called ''Gelbe Autobahn'' (yellow autobahn) because most of them are ''Bundesstraßen'' (federal highways) with yellow signs. Some controlled-access highways are classified as "Bundesautobahn" in spite of not meeting the autobahn construction standard (for example, the
A 62 near
Pirmasens
Pirmasens (; pfl, Bärmesens (also ''Bermesens'' or ''Bärmasens'')) is an independent town in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, near the border with France. It was famous for the manufacture of shoes. The surrounding rural district was called ''Lan ...
).
Similar to some other German words, the term ''autobahn'' when used in English is usually understood to refer specifically to the national highway system of Germany, whereas in German the word ''autobahn'' is applied to any controlled highway in any country. For this reason in German, the more specific term ''Bundesautobahn'' is strongly preferred when the intent is to make specific reference to Germany's Autobahn network.
Construction
![Autobahn 10-999](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/79/Autobahn_10-999.png)
Similar to high-speed motorways in other countries, autobahns have multiple lanes of traffic in each direction, separated by a central barrier with
grade-separated
In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights (grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tran ...
junctions and access restricted to motor vehicles with a top speed greater than . Nearly all exits are to the right; rare left-hand exits result from incomplete interchanges where the "straight-on" leads into the exit. The earliest motorways were flanked by
shoulders
The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...
about in width, constructed of varying materials; right-hand shoulders on many autobahns were later retrofitted to in width when it was realized cars needed the additional space to pull off the autobahn safely. In the postwar years, a thicker
asphaltic concrete
Asphalt concrete (commonly called asphalt, blacktop, or pavement in North America, and tarmac, bitumen macadam, or rolled asphalt in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland) is a composite material commonly used to surface roads, parking ...
cross-section with full paved hard shoulders came into general use. The top design speed was approximately in flat country but lower design speeds were used in hilly or mountainous terrain. A flat-country autobahn that was constructed to meet standards during the
Nazi period could support speeds of up to on curves.
Numbering system
The current autobahn numbering system in use in Germany was introduced in 1974. All autobahns are named by using the capital letter A, which simply stands for "Autobahn" followed by a blank and a number (for example
A 8). The main autobahns going all across Germany have a single digit number. Shorter autobahns that are of regional importance (e.g. connecting two major cities or regions within Germany) have a double digit number (e.g.
A 24, connecting Berlin and Hamburg). The system is as follows:
*
A 10 to
A 19 A19, A-19, etc. may refer to:
* A19, one of the Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings codes for the English Opening
* ''A19'', a 2002 album by the Battlefield Band
* "A19", a song by Maxïmo Park from the ''Missing Songs'' album
* A19 light bulb, a comm ...
are in eastern Germany (Berlin,
Saxony-Anhalt
Saxony-Anhalt (german: Sachsen-Anhalt ; nds, Sassen-Anholt) is a state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony, Thuringia and Lower Saxony. It covers an area of
and has a population of 2.18 million inhabitants, making it the ...
, parts of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
and
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 ...
)
*
A 20 to
A 29 are in northern and northeastern Germany
*
A 30 to
A 39 are in
Lower Saxony
Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...
(northwestern Germany) and Thuringia
*
A 40 to
A 49 are in the
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
to
Frankfurt Rhine-Main
The Rhine-Main Metropolitan Region, often simply referred to as Frankfurt Rhine-Main, Frankfurt Rhine-Main area or Rhine-Main area (German: ''Rhein-Main-Gebiet'' or ''Frankfurt/Rhein-Main'', abbreviated FRM), is the second-largest Metropolitan reg ...
*
A 52 to
A 59 are in the
Lower Rhine region
The Lower Rhine region or Niederrhein is a region around the Lower Rhine section of the river Rhine in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany between approximately Oberhausen and Krefeld in the East and the Dutch border around Kleve in the West. As ...
to
Cologne
Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...
*
A 60 to
A 67 are in
Rhineland-Palatinate
Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...
,
Saarland
The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...
,
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
and northern
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
*
A 70 to
A 73 are in
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
, northern
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
and parts of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
*
A 81 is in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
*
A 90 to
A 99 are in (southern)
Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
*
A 98 is in
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
There are also some very short autobahns built just for local traffic (e.g.
ring road
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 ...
s or the
A 555 from Cologne to Bonn) that usually have three digits for numbering. The first digit used is similar to the system above, depending on the region.
East–west routes are even-numbered, north–south routes are odd-numbered. The north–south autobahns are generally numbered from west to east; that is to say, the more easterly roads are given higher numbers. Similarly, the east–west routes are numbered from north (lower numbers) to south (higher numbers).
History
Early years
The idea for the construction of the autobahn was first conceived in the mid-1920s during the days of the
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
, but the construction was slow, and most projected sections did not progress much beyond the planning stage due to economic problems and a lack of political support. One project was the private initiative ''
HaFraBa The Verein zur Vorbereitung der Autostraße Hansestädte–Frankfurt–Basel (), commonly referred to as HaFraBa, was an organization dedicated to developing one of the first large Autobahn projects in Germany.
Foundation and name
The association ...
'' which planned a "car-only road" crossing Germany from
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in the north via central
Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
to
Basel
, french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese
, neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...
in Switzerland. Parts of the ''HaFraBa'' were completed in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but construction eventually was halted by
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 ...
. The first public road of this kind was completed in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn and opened by
Konrad Adenauer
Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer (; 5 January 1876 – 19 April 1967) was a Germany, German statesman who served as the first Chancellor of Germany, chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1949 to 1963. From 1946 to 1966, he was the fir ...
(
Lord Mayor of Cologne and future
Chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
of West Germany) on 6 August 1932.
Today, that road is the
Bundesautobahn 555
is an autobahn connecting the cities of Cologne and Bonn. It was constructed between 1929 and 1932, and opened to traffic on 6 August 1932.
Because it was the first public road that was limited to motorized vehicles and had no level crossing ...
.
[Wie die Autobahn ins Rheinland kam]
documentary This road was not yet called ''Autobahn'' and lacked a centre median like modern motorways, but instead was termed a ''Kraftfahrstraße'' ("motor vehicle road") with two lanes each direction without intersections, pedestrians, bicycles, or animal-powered transportation.
1930s
![Bundesarchiv Bild 146-1979-025-30A, Reichsautobahn mit zwei KdF-Wagen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Bundesarchiv_Bild_146-1979-025-30A%2C_Reichsautobahn_mit_zwei_KdF-Wagen.jpg)
Just days after the 1933
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
takeover,
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
enthusiastically embraced an ambitious autobahn construction project, appointing
Fritz Todt
Fritz Todt (; 4 September 1891 – 8 February 1942) was a German construction engineer and senior Nazi who rose from the position of Inspector General for German Roadways, in which he directed the construction of the German autobahns (''Reichsa ...
, the Inspector General of German Road Construction, to lead it. By 1936, 130,000 workers were directly employed in construction, as well as an additional 270,000 in the supply chain for construction equipment, steel, concrete, signage, maintenance equipment, etc. In rural areas, new camps to house the workers were built near construction sites. The
job creation program
Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the referen ...
aspect was not especially important because
full employment
Full employment is a situation in which there is no cyclical or unemployment#Cyclical unemployment, deficient-demand unemployment. Full employment does not entail the disappearance of all unemployment, as other kinds of unemployment, namely Structu ...
was almost reached by 1936. However, according to one source autobahn workers were often conscripted through the compulsory Reich Labor Service (and thereby removed from the unemployment registry).
The autobahns were not primarily intended as major infrastructure improvement of special value to the military as often stated. Their military value was limited as all large-scale military transportation in Germany was done by train to save fuel. The
propaganda ministry turned the construction of the autobahns into a major media event that attracted international attention.
The autobahns formed the first limited-access, high-speed road network in the world, with the first section from Frankfurt am Main to
Darmstadt
Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...
opening in 1935. This straight section was used for high-speed record attempts by the
Grand Prix
Grand Prix ( , meaning ''Grand Prize''; plural Grands Prix), is a name sometimes used for competitions or sport events, alluding to the winner receiving a prize, trophy or honour
Grand Prix or grand prix may refer to:
Arts and entertainment ...
racing teams of
Mercedes-Benz
Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...
and
Auto Union
Auto Union AG, was an amalgamation of four German automobile manufacturers, founded in 1932 and established in 1936 in Chemnitz, Saxony. It is the immediate predecessor of Audi as it is known today.
As well as acting as an umbrella firm f ...
until a fatal accident involving popular German race driver
Bernd Rosemeyer
Bernd Rosemeyer (14 October 1909 – 28 January 1938) was a German racing driver and speed record holder. He is considered one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. Though he was not a member of the Nazi party, he was made a member of the S ...
in early 1938. The world record of set by
Rudolf Caracciola
Otto Wilhelm Rudolf CaracciolaBolsinger and Becker (2002), p. 63 (30 January 1901 – 28 September 1959) was a racing driver from Remagen, Germany. He won the European Drivers' Championship, the pre-1950 equivalent of the modern Formula One Wor ...
on this stretch just prior to the accident remains one of the highest speeds ever achieved on a public motorway. In the 1930s, a ten-kilometre stretch of what is today
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, ...
just south of
Dessau
Dessau is a town and former municipality in Germany at the confluence of the rivers Mulde and Elbe, in the '' Bundesland'' (Federal State) of Saxony-Anhalt. Since 1 July 2007, it has been part of the newly created municipality of Dessau-Roßlau ...
—called the
''Dessauer Rennstrecke''—had bridges with no piers and was designed for cars like the
Mercedes-Benz T80
The Mercedes-Benz T80 was a six-wheeled vehicle built by Mercedes-Benz, developed and designed by Ferdinand Porsche. It was intended to break the world land speed record, but never made the attempt, the project having been overtaken by the outbre ...
to attempt to make land speed records. The T80 was to make a
record attempt
in January 1940, but plans were abandoned after the outbreak of
World War II in Europe
The European theatre of World War II was one of the two main theatres of combat during World War II. It saw heavy fighting across Europe for almost six years, starting with Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 and ending with the ...
in September 1939.
World War II
During World War II, many of Germany's workers were required for various war production tasks. Construction work on the autobahn system therefore increasingly relied on forced workers and concentration camp inmates, and working conditions were very poor. As of 1942, when
the war turned against the
Third Reich
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
, only out of a planned of autobahn had been completed.
Meanwhile, the
median strip
The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also a ...
s of some autobahns were paved over to allow their conversion into
auxiliary airstrips. Aircraft were either stashed in numerous tunnels or camouflaged in nearby woods. However, for the most part during the war, the autobahns were not militarily significant. Motor vehicles, such as trucks, could not carry goods or troops as quickly or in as much bulk and in the same numbers as trains could, and the autobahns could not be used by
tank
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...
s as their weight and
caterpillar track
Continuous track is a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the weight of the vehicle b ...
s damaged the road surface. The general shortage of petrol in Germany during much of the war, as well as the low number of trucks and motor vehicles needed for direct support of military operations, further decreased the autobahn's significance. As a result, most military and economic freight was carried by rail. After the war, numerous sections of the autobahns were in bad shape, severely damaged by heavy
Allied
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
bombing
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...
and military demolition. Furthermore, thousands of kilometres of autobahns remained unfinished, their construction brought to a halt by 1943 due to the increasing demands of the war effort.
West Germany: 1949–1990
In
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
(FRG), most existing autobahns were repaired soon after the war. During the 1950s, the West German government restarted the construction program. It invested in new sections and in improvements to older ones. Finishing the incomplete sections took longer, with some stretches opened to traffic by the 1980s. Some sections cut by the
Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain was the political boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1991. The term symbolizes the efforts by the Soviet Union (USSR) to block itself and its s ...
in 1945 were only completed after
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990. Others were never completed, as more advantageous routes were found. An example is between Bad Brückenau and Gemünden am Main on the Fulda-Würzburg route, which was replaced by the A7.
East Germany: 1949–1990
![Autobahn bei Oranienburg](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Autobahn_bei_Oranienburg.jpg)
The autobahns of
East Germany
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 ...
(GDR) were neglected in comparison to those in West Germany after 1945. East German autobahns were used primarily for GDR military traffic and for state-owned farming or manufacturing vehicles. The speed limit on the GDR autobahns was ; however, lower speed limits were frequently encountered due to poor or quickly changing road conditions. The speed limits on the GDR autobahns were rigorously enforced by the
Volkspolizei
The ''Deutsche Volkspolizei'' (DVP, German for "German People's Police"), commonly known as the ''Volkspolizei'' or VoPo, was the national police force of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) from 1945 to 1990. The Volkspolizei was a h ...
, whose patrol cars were frequently found hiding under camouflage tarpaulins waiting for speeders.
Reunification: 1990–present day
The last of the remaining original ''Reichsautobahn'', a section of
A 11 northeast 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 ...
near
Gartz
Gartz is a town in the Uckermark district in Brandenburg, Germany. It is located on the West bank of the Oder River, on the border with Poland, about 20 km south of Szczecin, Poland. It is located within the historic region of Western Pomeran ...
built in 1936—the westernmost remainder of the never-finished
Berlinka
Berlinka (russian: Берлинка) is the informal Polish and Russian name given to sections of the unfinished Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg, which was a pre-World War II German Reichsautobahn project to connect Berlin with Königsberg i ...
—are scheduled for replacement around 2015. Roadway condition is described as "deplorable"; the -long concrete slabs, too long for proper expansion, are cracking under the weight of the traffic as well as the weather.
Length
Germany's autobahn network has a total length of about in 2021
), and a density of 36 motorway kilometres per thousand square kilometers (Eurostat) which ranks it among the densest and longest controlled-access systems in the world, and fifth in density within the EU in 2016 (Netherlands 66, Finland 3). Longer similar systems can be found
in the United States ()
and in China (). However both the U.S. and China have an area nearly 30 times bigger than Germany, which demonstrates the high density of Germany's highway system.
German-built ''Reichsautobahnen'' in other countries
The first autobahn in Austria was the
West Autobahn
The West Autobahn (A1) was the first motorway (''Autobahn'') to be built in Austria, originating from plans drawn up for the so-called ''Reichsautobahn'' system. Completed in 1967, today it runs from the outskirts of Vienna via Linz to Salzburg, ...
from
Wals
WALS (102.1 FM) is an American radio station broadcasting a country music format. Licensed to Oglesby, Illinois, United States, the station serves the LaSalle-Peru area. Branded as WALLS 102, the station is currently owned by Laco Radio and fe ...
near
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the ...
to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. Building started by command of
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
shortly after the ''
Anschluss
The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938.
The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
'' in 1938. It extended the ''Reichsautobahn 26'' from Munich (the present-day
A 8), however only including the branch-off of the planned
Tauern Autobahn
The Tauern Autobahn (A 10) is an Autobahns of Austria, autobahn (motorway) in Austria. It starts at the Salzburg junction with the West Autobahn (A1), runs southwards, crosses the Hohe Tauern, Tauern mountain range on the main chain of the Alps an ...
was opened to the public on 13 September 1941. Construction works discontinued the next year and were not resumed until 1955.
There are sections of the former German ''Reichsautobahn'' system in the
former eastern territories of Germany
The former eastern territories of Germany (german: Ehemalige deutsche Ostgebiete) refer in present-day Germany to those territories east of the current eastern border of Germany i.e. Oder–Neisse line which historically had been considered Ger ...
, ''i.e.''
East Prussia
East Prussia ; german: Ostpreißen, label=Low Prussian; pl, Prusy Wschodnie; lt, Rytų Prūsija was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 187 ...
,
Farther Pomerania
Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (german: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the Od ...
, and
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
; these territories became parts of Poland and the Soviet Union with the implementation of the
Oder–Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line (german: Oder-Neiße-Grenze, pl, granica na Odrze i Nysie Łużyckiej) is the basis of most of the international border between Germany and Poland from 1990. It runs mainly along the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers an ...
after World War II. Parts of the planned autobahn from Berlin to
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
(the ''
Berlinka
Berlinka (russian: Берлинка) is the informal Polish and Russian name given to sections of the unfinished Reichsautobahn Berlin-Königsberg, which was a pre-World War II German Reichsautobahn project to connect Berlin with Königsberg i ...
'') were completed as far as Stettin (
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 ...
) on 27 September 1936. After the war, they were incorporated as the
A6 autostrada of the
Polish motorway network. A single-carriageway section of the ''Berlinka'' east of the former "
Polish Corridor
The Polish Corridor (german: Polnischer Korridor; pl, Pomorze, Polski Korytarz), also known as the Danzig Corridor, Corridor to the Sea or Gdańsk Corridor, was a territory located in the region of Pomerelia (Pomeranian Voivodeship, eastern ...
" and the
Free City of Danzig
The Free City of Danzig (german: Freie Stadt Danzig; pl, Wolne Miasto Gdańsk; csb, Wòlny Gard Gduńsk) was a city-state under the protection of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gda ...
opened in 1938; today it forms the Polish
S22 expressway from
Elbląg
Elbląg (; german: Elbing, Old Prussian: ''Elbings'') is a city in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland, located in the eastern edge of the Żuławy region with 117,390 inhabitants, as of December 2021. It is the capital of Elbląg County.
...
(Elbing) to the border with the Russian
Kaliningrad Oblast
Kaliningrad Oblast (russian: Калинингра́дская о́бласть, translit=Kaliningradskaya oblast') is the westernmost federal subject of Russia. It is a semi-exclave situated on the Baltic Sea. The largest city and administr ...
, where it is continued by the R516 regional road. Also on 27 September 1936, a section from Breslau (
Wrocław
Wrocław (; german: Breslau, or . ; Silesian German: ''Brassel'') is a city in southwestern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the River Oder in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Europe, rou ...
) to Liegnitz (
Legnica
Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda (Kaczawa), Czarna Woda ...
) in Silesia was inaugurated, which today is part of the Polish
A4 autostrada, followed by the (single vehicle) ''Reichsautobahn 9'' from Bunzlau (
Bolesławiec
Bolesławiec (pronounced , szl, Bolesławiec, german: Bunzlau) is a historic city situated on the Bóbr River in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in western Poland. It is the administrative seat of Bolesławiec County, and of Gmina Bolesławiec ...
) to Sagan (
Żagań
Żagań ( French and german: Sagan, hsb, Zahań, la, Saganum) is a town in western Poland, on the Bóbr river, with 25,731 inhabitants (2019). The town is the capital of Żagań County in the historic region of Silesia. Previously in the Zielon ...
) the next year, today part of the Polish
A18 autostrada.
After the
German occupation of Czechoslovakia
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
, plans for a motorway connecting Breslau with Vienna via
Brno
Brno ( , ; german: Brünn ) is a city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava and Svratka rivers, Brno has about 380,000 inhabitants, making it the second-largest city in the Czech Republic ...
(Brünn) in the "
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
" were carried out from 1939 until construction works discontinued in 1942. A section of the former ''Strecke 88'' near Brno is today part of the
D52 motorway
D52 highway ( cs, Dálnice D52), formerly Expressway R52 ( cs, Rychlostní silnice R52) is a highway in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic, currently leading from Modřice, about south of Brno, to Pohořelice, parallel to the H ...
of the Czech Republic. Also, there is the isolated and abandoned twin-carriageway
Borovsko Bridge
The Borovsko Bridge is an unfinished highway bridge near , part of Bernartice municipality, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. It is commonly known as the "Czech Avignon" or "Hitler's Bridge".
The original bridge over the Sedlický River ...
southeast of Prague, on which construction started in July 1939 and halted after the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich by former Czechoslovak army soldiers at the end of May 1942.
Current density
![Garching Bundesautobahn 9](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/29/Garching_Bundesautobahn_9.jpg)
, Germany's autobahn network has a total length of about .
From 2009 Germany has embarked on a massive widening and rehabilitation project, expanding the lane count of many of its major arterial routes, such as the
A 5 in the southwest and
A 8 going east–west.
Most sections of Germany's autobahns have two or three, sometimes four lanes in each direction in addition to an emergency lane (
hard shoulder
A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wid ...
). A few sections have only two lanes in each direction without emergency lanes, and short slip-roads and ramps.
The motorway density in Germany is 36 kilometers per thousand square kilometer in 2016, close to that of the smaller countries nearby (Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Slovenia).
Facilities
Emergency telephones
About 17,000
emergency telephone
An emergency telephone is a telephone, phone specifically provided for making calls to emergency services and is most often found in a place of special danger or where it is likely that there will be a need to make emergency calls. It is also so ...
s are distributed at regular intervals all along the autobahn network, with triangular stickers on the armco barriers pointing the way to the nearest one. Despite the increasing use of mobile phones, there are still about 150 calls made each day on average (after some 700 in 2013). This still equals four calls per kilometre each year. The location of the caller is automatically sent to the operator.
Parking, rest areas, and truck stops
![BAB-A6-km-565](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/BAB-A6-km-565.jpg)
For breaks during longer journeys, parking sites,
rest area
A rest area is a public facility located next to a large thoroughfare such as a motorway, expressway, or highway, at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting onto secondary roads. Other names include motorway servi ...
s, and
truck stop
A truck stop, known as a service station in the United Kingdom, and a travel center by major chains in the United States, is a commercial facility which provides refueling, rest (parking), and often ready-made food and other services to motori ...
s are distributed over the complete Autobahn network. Parking on the autobahn is prohibited in the strictest terms outside these designated areas. There is a distinction between "managed" and "unmanaged" rest areas. (German: ''bewirtschaftet'' / ''unbewirtschaftet'').
![Zeichen 314](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/80/Zeichen_314-50_-_Parkplatz%2C_StVO_2013.svg)
Unmanaged rest areas are basically only parking spaces, sometimes with toilets. They form a part of the German highway system; the plots of land are federal property. Autobahn exits leading to such parking areas are marked at least (mostly ) in advance with a blue sign with the white letter "P". They are usually found every few kilometres. Some of them bear local or historic names.
A managed rest area (German: ''Autobahnraststätte'' or ''Raststätte'' for short) usually also includes a
filling station
A filling station, also known as a gas station () or petrol station (), is a facility that sells fuel and engine lubricants for motor vehicles. The most common fuels sold in the 2010s were gasoline (or petrol) and diesel fuel.
Gasoli ...
,
charging station
A charging station, also known as a charge point or electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), is a piece of equipment that supplies electrical power for charging plug-in electric vehicles (including electric cars, electric trucks, electric ...
, lavatories, toilets, and baby changes. Most rest areas also have restaurants, shops, public telephones, Internet access, and a playground. Some have hotels. Mandated every or so, rest areas are usually open all night.
Both kinds of rest areas are directly on the autobahn, with their own exits, and any service roads connecting them to the rest of the road network are usually closed to general traffic. Apart from rare exceptions, the autobahn must not be left nor entered at rest areas.
![Zeichen 448](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Zeichen_448.1_-_Autohof%2C_StVO_2000.svg)
Truck stops (German ''Autohof'', plural ''Autohöfe'') are large filling stations located at general exits, usually at a small distance from the autobahn, combined with fast food facilities and/or restaurants, but have no ramps of their own. They mostly sell fuel at normal price level while the ''Raststätten'' fuel prices are significantly higher.
Rest areas and truck stops are marked several times as motorists approach, starting several kilometres in advance, and include large signs that often include icons announcing what kinds of facilities travellers can expect, such as hotels, filling stations, rest areas, etc.
Speed limits
Germany's autobahns are famous for being among the few public roads in the world without blanket
speed limit
Speed limits on road traffic, as used in most countries, set the legal maximum speed at which vehicles may travel on a given stretch of road. Speed limits are generally indicated on a traffic sign reflecting the maximum permitted speed - expres ...
s for cars and motorcycles. As such, they are important German cultural identifiers, "often mentioned in hushed, reverential tones by motoring enthusiasts and looked at with a mix of awe and terror by outsiders."
Some speed limits are implemented on different autobahns.
Certain limits are imposed on some classes of vehicles:
Additionally, speed limits are posted at most on- and off-ramps and interchanges
and other danger points like sections under construction or in need of repair.
Where no general limit exists, the advisory speed limit is , referred to in German as the ''
Richtgeschwindigkeit
An advisory speed limit is a speed recommendation by a governing body, used when it may be non-obvious to the driver that the safe speed is below the legal speed. It is a posting which either approximates the Basic Speed Law or rule (and is s ...
''. The advisory speed is not enforceable; however, being involved in an accident driving at higher speeds can lead to the driver being deemed at least partially responsible due to "increased operating danger" (''Erhöhte Betriebsgefahr'').
The Federal Road Research Institute (''Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen'') solicited information about speed regulations on autobahns from the
sixteen States and reported the following, comparing the years 2006 and 2008:
Except at construction sites, the general speed limits, where they apply, are usually between and ; construction sites usually have a speed limit of but the limit may be as low as . In rare cases, sections may have limits of , or on one ramp . Certain stretches have lower speed limits during wet weather. Some areas have a speed limit of in order to reduce noise pollution during overnight hours (usually 10 pm – 6 am) or because of increased traffic during daytime (6 am – 8 pm).
![Verkehrszeichen auf der Bundesautobahn 20090320 001](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6f/Verkehrszeichen_auf_der_Bundesautobahn_20090320_001.JPG)
Some limits were imposed to reduce pollution and noise. Limits can also be temporarily put into place through dynamic traffic guidance systems that display the corresponding message. More than half of the total length of the German autobahn network has no speed limit, about one third has a permanent limit, and the remaining parts have a temporary or conditional limit.
Some cars with very powerful engines can reach speeds of well over . Major German car manufacturers, except
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
, follow a
gentlemen's agreement
A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...
by
electronically limiting the top speeds of their cars—with the exception of some top of the range models or engines—to . These limiters can be deactivated, so speeds up to might arise on the German autobahn, but due to other traffic, such speeds are generally not attainable except during certain times like between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. or on Sundays (when truck drivers have to rest by law). Furthermore, there are certain autobahn sections which are known for having light traffic, making such speeds attainable during most days (especially some of those located in Eastern Germany). Most unlimited sections of the autobahn are located outside densely populated areas.
Vehicles with a top speed less than (such as
quads
The quadriceps femoris muscle (, also called the quadriceps extensor, quadriceps or quads) is a large muscle group that includes the four prevailing muscles on the front of the thigh. It is the sole extensor muscle of the knee, forming a large ...
, low-end microcars, and agricultural/construction equipment) are not allowed to use the autobahn, nor are motorcycles and scooters with low engine capacity regardless of top speed (mainly applicable to
moped
A moped ( ) is a type of small motorcycle, generally having a less stringent licensing requirement than full motorcycles or automobiles. The term used to mean a similar vehicle except with both bicycle pedals and a motorcycle engine. Mopeds typic ...
s which are typically limited to or anyway). To comply with this limit, heavy-duty trucks in Germany (e.g. mobile cranes, tank transporters etc.) often have a maximum design speed of (usually denoted by a round black-on-white sign with "62" on it), along with flashing orange beacons to warn approaching cars that they are travelling slowly. There is no general minimum speed but drivers are not allowed to drive at an unnecessarily low speed as this would lead to significant traffic disturbance and an increased collision risk.
Public debate
German national speed limits have a historical association with war-time restrictions and deprivations, the Nazi era, and the Soviet era in East Germany. "Free driving for free citizens" ("freie Fahrt für freie Bürger"), a slogan promoted by the
German Auto Club since the 1970s, is a popular slogan among those opposing autobahn speed restrictions.
Tarek Al-Wazir
Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir ( ar, طارق محمد الوزير; born 3 January 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been deputy to the Hessian Minister-President, and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, T ...
, head of the Green Party in Hesse, and currently the Hessian Transport Minister has stated that "the speed limit in Germany has a similar status as the
right to bear arms in the American debate. At some point, a speed limit will become reality here, and soon we will not be able to remember the time before. It's like the smoking ban in restaurants."
Early history
The
Weimar Republic
The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...
had no federally required speed limits. The first crossroads-free road for motorized vehicles only, now
A 555 between Bonn and Cologne, had a limit when it opened in 1932.
In October 1939, the
Nazis
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...
instituted the first national maximum speed limit, throttling speeds to in order to conserve gasoline for the war effort. After the war, the
four Allied occupation zones established their own speed limits until the divided
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 ...
and
West German
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
republics were constituted in 1949; initially, the Nazi speed limits were restored in both East and West Germany.
After the World Wars
In December 1952 the West German legislature voted to
abolish all national speed limits, seeing them as Nazi relics, reverting to State-level decisions. National limits were reestablished incrementally. The urban limit was enacted in 1956, effective in 1957. The limit on rural roads—except autobahns—became effective in 1972.
Oil crisis of the 1970s
Just prior to the
1973 oil crisis
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC), led by Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supp ...
, Germany, Switzerland,
and Austria
all had no general speed restriction on autobahns. During the crisis, like other nations, Germany imposed temporary speed restrictions; for example, on autobahns effective 13 November 1973. Automakers projected a 20% plunge in sales, which they attributed in part to the lowered speed limits. The 100 km/h limit championed by Transportation Minister
Lauritz Lauritzen
Lauritz Lauritzen (20 January 1910 – 5 June 1980) was a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was born in Kiel and died in Bad Honnef.
Life and career
Lauritzen studied Law at the universities of Freiburg and K ...
lasted 111 days. Adjacent nations with unlimited speed autobahns, Austria
and Switzerland,
imposed permanent limits after the crisis.
However, after the crisis eased in 1974, the
upper house of the German parliament, which was controlled by
conservative parties
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative Pa ...
, successfully resisted the imposition of a permanent mandatory limit supported by
Chancellor Brandt. The upper house insisted on a recommended limit until a thorough study of the effects of a mandatory limit could be conducted. Accordingly, the Federal Highway Research Institute conducted a multiple-year experiment, switching between mandatory and recommended limits on two test stretches of autobahn. In the final report issued in 1977, the Institute stated the mandatory speed limit could reduce the autobahn death toll but there would be economic impacts, so a political decision had to be made due to the trade-offs involved. At that time, the federal government declined to impose a mandatory limit. The fatality rate trend on the German autobahn mirrored those of other nations' motorways that imposed a general speed limit.
Environmental concerns of the 1980s
In the mid-1980s,
acid rain
Acid rain is rain or any other form of precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists between 6.5 and 8.5, but acid ...
and sudden
forest destruction
Deforestation or forest clearance is the removal of a forest or stand of trees from land that is then converted to non-forest use. Deforestation can involve conversion of forest land to farms, ranches, or urban use. The most concentrated d ...
renewed debate on whether or not a general speed limit should be imposed on autobahns. A car's fuel consumption increases with high speed, and fuel conservation is a key factor in reducing air pollution. Environmentalists argued that enforcing limits of limit on autobahns and on other rural roads would save lives as well as the forest, reducing the annual death toll by 30% (250 lives) on autobahns and 15% (1,000 lives) on rural roads; the German motor vehicle death toll was about 10,000 at the time.
The federal government sponsored a large-scale experiment with a speed limit in order to measure the impact of reduced speeds on emissions and compliance. Afterward, again, the federal government declined to impose a mandatory limit, deciding the modest measured emission reduction would have no meaningful effect on forest loss. By 1987, all restrictions on test sections had been removed, even in Hesse where the state government was controlled by a
"red-green" coalition.
German reunification
Prior to
German reunification
German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...
in 1990,
eastern German states focused on restrictive traffic regulation such as a autobahn speed limit and of on other rural roads. Within two years after the opening, availability of high-powered vehicles and a 54% increase in motorized traffic led to a doubling of annual traffic deaths, despite "interim arrangements
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
involved the continuation of the speed limit of on autobahns and of outside cities". An extensive program of the four ''E''s (enforcement, education, engineering, and
emergency response
Emergency services and rescue services are organizations that ensure public safety and health by addressing and resolving different emergencies. Some of these agencies exist solely for addressing certain types of emergencies, while others deal wit ...
) brought the number of traffic deaths back to pre-unification levels after a decade of effort while traffic regulations were conformed to western standards (e.g., freeway advisory limit, on other rural roads, and
0.05 percent BAC).
Since reunification
In 1993, the Social Democratic-Green Party coalition controlling the State of Hesse experimented with a limit on autobahns and on other rural roads. These limits were attempts to reduce
ozone pollution.
During his term of office (1998 to 2005) as Chancellor of Germany,
Gerhard Schröder
Gerhard Fritz Kurt "Gerd" Schröder (; born 7 April 1944) is a German lobbyist and former politician, who served as the chancellor of Germany from 1998 to 2005. From 1999 to 2004, he was also the Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany ...
opposed an autobahn speed limit, famously referring to Germany as an ''Autofahrernation'' (a "nation of drivers").
In October 2007, at a party congress held by the
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (german: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, ; SPD, ) is a centre-left social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany.
Saskia Esken has been the ...
, delegates narrowly approved a proposal to introduce a blanket speed limit of on all German autobahns. While this initiative is primarily a part of the SPD's general strategic outline for the future and, according to practices, not necessarily meant to affect immediate government policy, the proposal had stirred up a debate once again; Germany's chancellor since 2005,
Angela Merkel
Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Oppo ...
, and leading cabinet members expressed outspoken disapproval of such a measure.
In 2008, the
Social Democratic-Green Party coalition controlling Germany's smallest state,
the paired City-State of Bremen and Bremerhaven, imposed a 120-kilometre-per-hour (75 mph) limit on its last of speed-unlimited autobahn
in hopes of leading other States to do likewise.
In 2011, the first-ever
Green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...
minister-president of any German state,
Winfried Kretschmann
Winfried Kretschmann (born 17 May 1948) is a German politician serving as Minister-President of Baden-Württemberg since 2011. A member of the Alliance '90/Greens, he was President of the Bundesrat and ''ex officio'' deputy to the President of G ...
of
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg (; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million inhabitants across a ...
initially argued for a similar, state-level limit. However, Baden-Württemberg is an important location for the German motor industry, including the headquarters of
Daimler AG
The Mercedes-Benz Group AG (previously named Daimler-Benz, DaimlerChrysler and Daimler) is a German multinational automotive corporation headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is one of the world's leading car manufacture ...
and
Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
; the ruling coalition ultimately decided a state-level limit on its of speed-unlimited roads—arguing for nationwide speed limit instead.
In 2014, the
conservative-liberal ruling coalition of
Saxony
Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...
confirmed its rejection of a general speed limit on autobahns, instead advocating dynamic traffic controls where appropriate. Between
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
and
2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
in the State of
Hesse
Hesse (, , ) or Hessia (, ; german: Hessen ), officially the State of Hessen (german: links=no, Land Hessen), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt. Two other major histor ...
, transportation ministers Dieter Posch and his successor Florian Rentsch, both members of the
Free Democratic Party, removed or raised speed limits on several sections of autobahn following regular 5-year reviews of speed limit effectiveness; some sections just prior to the installation of
Tarek Al-Wazir
Tarek Mohammed Al-Wazir ( ar, طارق محمد الوزير; born 3 January 1971) is a politician in the German Green Party. Since January 2014 he has been deputy to the Hessian Minister-President, and Hessian Minister of Economics, Energy, T ...
(
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
) as Transportation Minister in January 2014 as part of an uneasy CDU-green coalition government. In 2015, the left-green coalition government of
Thuringia
Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million.
Erfurt is the capital and larg ...
declared that a general autobahn limit was a federal matter; Thuringia would not unilaterally impose a general statewide limit, although the Thuringian environmental minister had recommended a limit.
In late 2015, Winfried Hermann, Baden-Württemberg's Green minister of transportation, promised to impose a trial speed limit of on about 10% of the state's autobahns beginning in May 2016. However, the ruling Green-Social Democratic coalition lost its majority in the March 2016 elections; while Mr Hermann retained his post in the new Green-Christian Democratic government, he put aside preparations for a speed limit due to opposition from his new coalition partners.
In 2019, the Green Party introduced a motion to introduce a hard 130 km/h speed limit on the autobahn, but it was defeated in the
Bundestag
The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...
.
A second attempt to reopen debate on the issue was made by the SDU, but it was controversial with Merkel's government.
Safety
In 2014, autobahns carried 31% of motorized road traffic while accounting for 11% of Germany's traffic deaths. The autobahn fatality rate of 1.6 deaths per billion travel-kilometres compared favorably with the 4.6 rate on urban streets and 6.5 rate on rural roads.
However, the reason for this is quite obvious and these types of roads are not comparable according to German traffic researcher Bernhard Schlag: "You don't have some of the problems that are accident-prone there at all. No cyclists, no pedestrians, no crossing traffic, hardly any direct oncoming traffic. In that sense, it's not surprising that autobahns are relatively safe roads
ompared to other road types"
According to official statistics from 2018, unlimited highways in Germany claimed about 71% of fatalities on highways.
However, autobahns without speed limits also account for 70% of the entire autobahn network, which puts the high proportion of collision fatalities on stretches without speed limits into perspective.
However, the often resulting thinking that speed limits would not make roads significantly safer is a fallacy, since it is precisely those roads that have a high volume of traffic and thus a high risk of collisions that are given speed limits.
According to Schlag, unsafe and older drivers, in particular, would avoid the autobahn because they perceive the high-speed differentials and very fast drivers as scary, and instead congregate on rural roads where the risk of collisions is higher anyway.
In contrast to other road types, where the number of collisions has continuously decreased, the number of collisions on autobahns has remained relatively stable or even increased for several years since 2009.
According to a report by the
Federal Statistical Office, fast driving is the main cause of collisions on autobahns.
According to the 2018 edition of the European Road Safety Observatory's ''Traffic Safety Basic Facts'' report, an above-average number of accidents end in fatalities on a 1000-kilometer stretch of highway in Germany compared to other EU countries.
Although Germany has a very low total
traffic-related death rate, if only the mortality rate on highways is considered, Germany is in the rear midfield in a Europe-wide comparison of the number of traffic fatalities per thousand kilometers driven on highways in 2016.
An evaluation by the shows that in 2016 statistically 26% fewer people died on autobahns with a speed limit per kilometer than on autobahns without.
A similar trend could be observed in the number of serious injuries.
Between 1970 and 2010, overall German road
fatalities decreased by almost 80% from 19,193 to 3,648; over the same time period, autobahn deaths halved from 945 to 430 deaths.
Statistics for 2013 show total German traffic deaths had declined to the lowest count ever recorded: 3,340 (428 on autobahns); a representative of the Federal Statistical Office attributed the general decline to harsh winter weather that delayed the start of the motorcycle-riding season.
In 2014, there was a total of 3,377 road fatalities, while autobahn deaths dropped to 375.
* per 1,000,000,000 travel-kilometres
In 2012, the leading cause of autobahn accidents was "
excessive speed (for conditions)": 6,587 so-called "speed related" crashes claimed the lives of 179 people, which represents almost half (46.3%) of 387 autobahn fatalities that year.
However, "excessive speed" does not mean that a speed limit has been exceeded, but that police determined at least one party travelled too fast for existing road
or weather conditions.
On autobahns 22 people died per 1,000 injury crashes, a lower rate than the 29 deaths per 1,000 injury accidents on conventional rural roads, which in turn is five times higher than the risk on urban roads—speeds are higher on rural roads and autobahns than urban roads, increasing the severity potential of a crash.
Safety: international comparison
A few countries publish the safety record of their motorways; the Federal Highway Research Institute
provided
IRTAD {{Multiple issues, {{No references, date=September 2022
{{tone, date=September 2022
The International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) collects and aggregates international data on road crashes. It thereby provides an empirical basis for ...
statistics for the year 2012:
For example, a person yearly traversing on regular roads and on motorways has an approximately chance of dying in a car accident on a German road in any particular year ( on an autobahn), compared to in Czech Republic, in Denmark, or in the United States.
However, there are many differences between countries in their geography, economy, traffic growth, highway system size, degree of urbanization and motorization, and so on.
The European Union publishes statistics reported by its members.
Travel speeds
The federal government does not regularly measure or estimate travel speeds. One study reported in a transportation engineering journal offered historical perspective on the increase in travel speeds over a decade, as shown below.
''Source'': Kellermann, G: Geschwindigkeitsverhalten im Autobahnnetz 1992. Straße+Autobahn, Issue 5/1995.
The Federal Environmental Office reported that, on a free-flowing section in 1992, the recorded average speed was with 51% of drivers exceeding the recommended speed.
In 2006, speeds were recorded using automated detection loops 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 ...
at two points: on a six-lane section of
A 9 near
Niemegk
Niemegk () is a town in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the ''Amt'' ("collective municipality") Niemegk.
Geography
The municipal area is situated on the northeastern slopes of the Flämi ...
with a advisory speed limit; and on a four-lane section of
A 10 bypassing
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 ...
near
Groß Kreutz
Groß Kreutz is a municipality in the Potsdam-Mittelmark district, in Brandenburg, Germany.
Demography
File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Groß Kreutz.pdf, Development of population since 1875 within the current Boundaries (Blue Line: Population; D ...
with a mandatory limit.
["Auswirkungen eines allgemeinen Tempolimits auf Autobahnen im Land Brandenburg"]
. 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 ...
. October 2007. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
1) (German:) "Auf einer 6-streifigen Autobahn ergibt sich für den Pkw-Verkehr im Mittel eine Geschwindigkeit von 142 km/h ... Der Bereich zwischen v15 (von 15% unterschritten) und v85 (von 85% unterschritten) wird für den geschwindigkeitsunbegrenzten Abschnitt mit 115 ... 167 km/h" The results are shown below:
At peak times on the "free-flowing" section of A 9, over 60% of road users exceeded the recommended maximum speed, more than 30% of motorists exceeded , and more than 15% exceeded —in other words the so-called "85th-percentile speed" was in excess of 170 km/h.
["Lärmaktionsplan 2008 der Stadt Gera"]
Gera
Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...
. 30 April 2009. Retrieved 2013-10-11. Quote: "Die real gefahrene Geschwindigkeit auf 'freigegebenen' Autobahnabschnitten liegt jedoch deutlich höher, wie das in Abb. 54 dargestellte Beispiel von der A 9 im Bereich Niemegk zeigt. Die V85 liegt teilweise bei über 170 km/h. Im Schnitt fahren deutlich über 60% der Verkehrsteilnehmer schneller als 130 km/h. Mehr als 30% der Verkehrsteilnehmer fahren im Schnitt schneller als 150 km/h."
Toll roads
On 1 January 2005, a new system came into effect for mandatory tolls ''(Mautpflicht)'' on heavy trucks (those weighing more than 12 t) while using the German autobahn system (''
LKW-Maut''). The German government contracted with a private company,
Toll Collect GmbH, to operate the toll collection system, which has involved the use of vehicle-mounted transponders and roadway-mounted sensors installed throughout Germany. The toll is calculated depending on the toll route, as well as based on the pollution class of the vehicle, its weight and the number of axles on the vehicles. Certain vehicles, such as emergency vehicles and buses, are exempt from the toll. An average user is charged €0.15 per kilometre, or about $0.31 per mile (Toll Collect, 2007).
Traffic laws and enforcement
Driving in Germany is regulated by the Straßenverkehrs-Ordnung (''road traffic regulations'', abbreviated StVO). Enforcement on the federal Autobahnen is handled by each state's
highway patrol
A highway patrol, or state patrol is either a police unit created primarily for the purpose of overseeing and enforcing traffic safety compliance on roads and highways, or a detail within an existing local or regional police agency that is prima ...
(''
Autobahnpolizei
is the term in Germany for the highway patrol. Heavy traffic and high-speed accidents resulted in the creation of special police units to patrol the expressways known as ''Autobahnen''.
Organisation
Although the autobahns are federal roads, th ...
''), often using unmarked police cars and motorcycles and usually equipped with
video cameras
A video camera is an optical instrument that captures videos (as opposed to a movie camera, which records images on film). Video cameras were initially developed for the television industry but have since become widely used for a variety of other ...
, thus allowing easier enforcement of laws such as
tailgating
Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly.
The safe distance for following another vehicle varies depend ...
. Notable laws include the following.
* The right lane should be used when it is free (''Rechtsfahrgebot'') and the left lane is generally intended only for overtaking unless traffic is too dense to justify driving only on the right lane. It is legal to give a short horn or light signal (flashing headlights or ''Lichthupe'') in order to indicate the intention of overtaking, but a safe distance to the vehicle in front must be maintained, otherwise this might be regarded as an act of
coercion
Coercion () is compelling a party to act in an involuntary manner by the use of threats, including threats to use force against a party. It involves a set of forceful actions which violate the free will of an individual in order to induce a desi ...
.
*
![FuStw-A6-APITH](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/FuStw-A6-APITH.jpg)
Penalties for
tailgating
Tailgating is the action of a driver driving behind another vehicle while not leaving sufficient distance to stop without causing a collision if the vehicle in front stops suddenly.
The safe distance for following another vehicle varies depend ...
were increased in May 2006 to a maximum of €375 (now €400) and three months' license suspension: "drivers must keep a distance in metres that is equal to half their speed. For example, a driver going 100 km/h on the autobahn must keep a distance of at least 50 metres (165 feet)". The penalty increase followed uproar after an
infamous fatal crash on Autobahn 5 in 2003.
* In a traffic jam, drivers must form a rescue lane (''Rettungsgasse'') to allow emergency services to reach the scene of an accident. This emergency corridor is to be created on the dividing line between the two leftmost lanes; following the guiding principle of ''if on the left, drive left, else drive right'', vehicles may cross into another lane if need be.
* It is unlawful to stop for any reason on the autobahn, except for emergencies and when unavoidable, like traffic jams or being involved in an accident. This includes stopping on emergency lanes. Running out of fuel is considered an avoidable occurrence, as by law there are petrol stations directly on the autobahn approximately every . Drivers may face fines and up to six months' suspension, should it come to a stop that was deemed unnecessary by the police. In some cases (if there is a direct danger to life and limb or property e.g. cars and highway infrastructure) it may also be considered a crime and the driver could receive a prison sentence (up to 5 years).
* Overtaking on the right (undertaking) is strictly forbidden, except when stuck in traffic jams. Up to a speed of , if the left lane is crowded or driving slowly, it is permitted to pass cars on the right side if the speed difference is not greater than or the vehicle on the left lane is stationary. This is not referred to as overtaking, but driving past. Even if the car overtaken is illegally occupying the left-hand lane, it is not an acceptable excuse; in such cases, the police will routinely stop and fine both drivers. However, exceptions can and have sometimes been made.
In popular culture
Film and television
* ''
Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei
''Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei'' ("Alarm for Cobra 11 – The Highway Police") is a long-running, popular German television series about a two-man team of highway police (Autobahnpolizei), originally set in Berlin and since 1999 i ...
'' (''Alarm for Cobra 11 – The Autobahn Police'', 1996–), a famous German TV series focusing on the work of a team of motorway police officers and their investigations, set in the autobahn-intertwined
Rhine-Ruhr
The Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region (german: Metropolregion Rhein-Ruhr) is the largest metropolitan region in Germany, with over ten million inhabitants. A polycentric conurbation with several major urban concentrations, the region covers ...
metropolitan area.
* ''Reichsautobahn'' (documentary/b&w) by (West Germany, 1986)
Music
* "
Autobahn
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'. ...
", a song and album by German electronic band
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
(1974)
* "Autobahn", a song by South Korean Boyband
Monsta X
Monsta X (; stylized as MONSTA X) is a South Korean boy group formed through the reality survival program ''No.Mercy'' under Starship Entertainment. The group is currently composed of six members: Shownu, Minhyuk, Kihyun, Hyungwon, Joohoney ...
Under their tenth extended play "
No Limit
No Limit may refer to:
Music Record labels
*No Limit Records, a record label founded by Master P
*No Limit Forever Records, a record label founded by Romeo Miller, son of Master P
Albums
* ''No Limit'' (Art Pepper album), 1977
* ''No Limit'' ...
" (2021)
Video games
''
Need for Speed: ProStreet'', ''
Burnout 3: Takedown'', and ''
Burnout Dominator
''Burnout Dominator'' is a racing video game developed by EA UK and published by Electronic Arts for PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. It retains the core gameplay of the series, as players race at top speeds through dozens of World Tour ev ...
'' use autobahn as one of their tracks. ''
Euro Truck Simulator
''Euro Truck Simulator'' (known as ''Big Rig Europe'' in North America) is a 2008 truck Simulation video game, simulation game developed and published by SCS Software, set in Europe. The player can drive a variety of semi-trucks and trailers ac ...
'', ''
German Truck Simulator
SCS Software s.r.o. is a Czech video game development company based in Prague, Czech Republic. It primarily produces simulation games for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux, including the '' 18 Wheels of Steel'' and ''Truck Simulator'' serie ...
'', and ''
Euro Truck Simulator 2
''Euro Truck Simulator 2'' is an open world
truck simulator game developed and published by SCS Software for Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS and was initially released as open development on 18 October 2012. The game is a direct sequel t ...
'' feature the Autobahn in their open world maps. ''Burnout 3: Takedown'' named them as Alpine while ''Burnout Dominator'' divided them into two (Autobahn and Autobahn Loop).
''
Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed'' also had a track that had the player drive across different sections of the autobahn. The entire game world of ''
Crash Time: Autobahn Pursuit'' is set on the autobahn.
In ''
Gran Turismo 5
is a 2010 racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was released for the PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010 in Europe and North America, and November 25, 2010 in Japan and Australasia, and ...
,'' ''
Gran Turismo 6
''Gran Turismo 6'' is a racing video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. It is the sixth major release and twelfth game overall in the '' Gran Turismo'' video game series. It w ...
and
Gran Turismo 7
''Gran Turismo 7'' is a racing simulation video game developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment. The game is the eighth mainline installment in the '' Gran Turismo'' series. The game was announced on June 11, ...
'', a trophy is awarded to those who have driven the same distance as the autobahn total length. In December 2010 video game developer Synetic GmbH and
Conspiracy Entertainment
Conspiracy Entertainment (formerly Conspiracy Games) is an American third-party developer video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that have been developed either internally by the publisher or extern ...
released the title ''
Alarm für Cobra 11 – Die Autobahnpolizei'' featuring real world racing and mission-based gameplay. It is taken from the popular German television series about a two-man team of ''Autobahnpolizei'' first set in Berlin then later in North Rhine-Westphalia.
See also
*
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 ...
*
Transport in Germany
As a densely populated country in a central location in Europe and with a developed economy, Germany has a dense transport infrastructure.
One of the first limited-access highway systems in the world to have been built, the extensive German A ...
*
List of autobahns in Germany
The '' German federal motorways'' are now numbered according to a clear system. Since the mid-1970s there has been a numbering system for motorways, which sets out which number is replaced by a new motorway. Motorways with a single-digit number ( ...
*
List of controlled-access highway systems
Many countries have national networks of controlled-access highways, the names of which vary from one country to another e.g. freeway or motorway. The networks do not always include all such highways, or even all the major ones in the country.
Asi ...
*
Evolution of motorway construction in European nations
The evolution of motorways construction in European countries by total number of kilometers existing in that year.
This is a list of the total number of Motorways by country in Europe. It includes motorways (controlled-access highways), classifie ...
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
External links
Official website(English)
*
*
ttp://www.gettingaroundgermany.info/autobahn.shtml English-language website that discusses all aspects of the autobahn
{{DEFAULTSORT:German Autobahns
Transport systems
Roads in Germany