The Bundesstraße 7 (abbr. B7) is a German federal highway (

Bundesstraße ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), 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'' are labelled with re ...

) that stretches from the Dutch border at

Venlo Venlo () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in southeastern Netherlands, close to the border with Germany. It is situated in the province of Limburg (Netherlands), ...

in the West to

Rochlitz Rochlitz (; , ) is a major district town (Große Kreisstadt) in the district of Mittelsachsen, in Saxony, Germany. Rochlitz is the head of the "municipal partnership Rochlitz" (Verwaltungsgemeinschaft Rochlitz) with its other members being the mu ...

near

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt (); ; ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden, and the fourth-largest city in the area of former East Germany after (East Be ...

in the East. It is approximately long. Because of its western origin some stretches of the B 7 are designated as "Holländische Straße" (''Dutch Road''), e.g., in

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in North Hesse, northern Hesse, in Central Germany (geography), central Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel (region), Kassel and the d ...

and

Calden Calden is a municipality in the district of Kassel in Hesse, Germany. It is located 12 km northwest of the city of Kassel, and the Kassel Airport is situated near Calden. Schloss Wilhelmsthal Schloss Wilhelmsthal is a Baroque château ...

History

The former Reichsstraße 7 extended from Schmölln over Meerane, Glauchau,

and

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

, where it linked with the Reichsstraße 6. The former portion between Chemnitz and

is now called the Bundesstraße 173. The segment between

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, with a population of 355,000. Wuppertal is the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia and List of cities in Germany by population, 17th-largest in Germany. It ...

and

Hagen Hagen () is a city in the States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany, on the southeastern edge of the Ruhr area, 15 km south of Dortmund, where the rivers Lenne and Volme meet the Ruhr (river), Ruhr. In 2023, the ...

was constructed in , making it one of the oldest roads in western

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The stretch connecting

Iserlohn Iserlohn (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Iserlaun'') is a city in the Märkischer Kreis district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is the largest city by population and area within the district and the Sauerland region. Geogr ...

and Menden was built between 1816 and . Between

Eisenach Eisenach () is a Town#Germany, town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia, and bordering northeastern Hesse, Hessian re ...

and

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

the B 7 follows the path of the former

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

. The original plan marked Dresden as he eastern terminus, however this portion was completed during the

Third Reich Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

and called the Bundesstraße 173.

New Developments

In some areas the Bundesstraße 7 is replaced by Autobahns. For example, between Hagen-Hohenlimburg and the former autobahn terminus in the eastern city of

the B 7 becomes the Bundesautobahn 46. Also, between Kassel and Eisenach the B 7 is slated to be replaced by the new

Bundesautobahn 44 is a German Autobahn. It consists of three main sections and a few smaller sections. It begins in Aachen at the German–Belgian border (A3 motorway (Belgium), Belgian motorway A3) and ends near Kassel (Bundesautobahn 7). Before German unificat ...

, the first piece of which was opened at Hessisch Lichtenau was in October 2005. Environmental concerns have been raised about the project, as the autobahn is proposed to run through the

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

Meißner-Kaufunger Wald. Since August 2005 heavy transport vehicles have been banned from a stretch of the B 7. The ban applies for a year and is enforced between Kassel at the A 7 junction and Wehretal. Vehicles originating or ending in the Kassel area are exempt from the ban.

Route / Junctions

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundesstrasse 7 Roads in North Rhine-Westphalia Roads in Hesse Roads in Saxony

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

History

New Developments

Route / Junctions

See also

External links