The Bundesstraße 87 (Abbreviation: B 87) is a

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'' ...

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 ...

. It begins in Ilmenau and ends in Frankfurt (Oder). In

Thüringia 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 ...

it runs partly along the Straße der Romanik.

History

Origin

The modern-day Bundesstraße 87 has been in use since

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

times as a connection between Frankfurt (Oder) 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 ...

. Between Leipzig and

Eckartsberga Eckartsberga () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated west of Naumburg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") An der Finne. Since 2009 it has included the former municipali ...

it follows the historical route of the

Via Regia The Via Regia (Royal Highway) is a European Cultural Route following the route of the historic road of the Middle Ages. There were many such ''viae regiae'' associated with the king in the medieval Holy Roman Empire. History Origins The V ...

. This section was upgraded to a highway by 1819. The connection as far as

Eilenburg Eilenburg (; hsb, Jiłow) is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig. Geography Eilenburg lies at the banks of the river Mulde at the southwestern edge ...

was upgraded in 1845. To upgrade the stretch from Eilenburg to Frankfurt (Oder), a company limited by shares was founded on 20 November 1854. The ''Frankfurt an der Oder Leipziger Chausseebaugesellschaft'' was headquartered in Lübben. This section ran from Eilenburg through

Torgau Torgau () is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen. Outside Germany, the town is best known as where on 25 April 1945, the United States and Soviet Armies forces first ...

, Herzberg, Schlieben,

Luckau Luckau ( Lower Sorbian: ''Łuków'') is a city in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany. Known for its beauty, it has been dubbed "the Pearl of Lower Lusatia". Origin of the name The name appears to be a loc ...

, Lübben,

Beeskow Beeskow ( dsb, Bezkow) is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, and capital of the Oder-Spree district. It is situated on the river Spree, 30 km southwest of Frankfurt an der Oder. Demography File:Bevölkerungsentwicklung Beeskow.pdf, Developm ...

and

Müllrose Müllrose ''(Lower Sorbian: Miłoraz)'' is a town in the Oder-Spree district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the Oder-Spree Canal, 15 km southwest of Frankfurt (Oder). A part of the city is located in the Schlaube Valley Nature ...

to Frankfurt (Oder). The easternmost section between Beeskow and Frankfurt (Oder) was completed in 1856.

Earlier Descriptions

The Prussian State Highway 33 (German: ''preußische Staatschaussee Nr. 33'' went from Frankfurt (Oder) to Leipzig. From Leipzig the Prussian State Highway 69 ran to

Weißenfels Weißenfels (; often written in English as Weissenfels) is the largest town of the Burgenlandkreis district, in southern Saxony-Anhalt, central Germany. It is situated on the river Saale, approximately south of Halle. History Perhaps the fir ...

. In Weißenfels this road connected with the Prussian State Highway 66, which ran from Halle (Saale) to

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. In 1932 the road was renamed ''Fernverkehrsstraße 87'' (FVS 87), and in 1934 ''Reichsstraße 87'' (R 87) by 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 N ...

, connecting with the former Fernverkehrsstraße 7 (which later became Reichsstraße 7) at Umpferstedt (between

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

and Weimar). In 1961 the so-called ''Fernverkehrsstraße 87'' (''F 87'') was extended from Umpferstedt to Ilmenau.

Replacements

Since 2005 the Bundesstraße 87 runs between the Lützen South (A 38) and

(A 9) via the autobahns A38 and A9; the previous connection between

and Lützen was renamed as a Landstrasse L188.

Further Plans

Since 1996 the extension from Meiningen to Fulda has been planned as Bundesstraße 87n.

Bridges

* Bridge over the river Elbe in Torgau * Bridge over the river Saale in Bad Kösen, built in 1891 as replacement for a stone bridge from the 14th Century

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bundesstrasse 87 Bundesstraße Roads in Thuringia Roads in Saxony-Anhalt Roads in Saxony Roads in Brandenburg