Bundesautobahn 5

Summary

Bundesautobahn 5 (translates from German as Federal Motorway 5, short form Autobahn 5, abbreviated as BAB 5 or A 5) is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection (with the A 7). The southern end is at the Swiss border near Basel. It runs through the German states of Hessen and Baden-Württemberg and connects on its southern ending to the Swiss A 2.

A 5 shield}}
A 5
Bundesautobahn 5
Route information
Length445 km (277 mi)
Major junctions
North end A 7 at the Hattenbach triangle
Major intersections
(1) Hattenbacher Dreieck A 7 E45
Wilder Stein parking area
Raststätte / Motel Rimberg()
parking area
Services Berfa ()
(2) Alsfeld-Ost B 62
Alsfeld-Mitte? (planned)
(3) Alsfeld-West B 49
Raststätte / Motel Pfefferhöhe ()
Rest area Dottenberg/Krachgarten
Intersection 3-way interchange Homberg? (planned) A 49
Nieder Gemünden (planned)
parking area
parking area
(6) Homberg
parking area
(7) Grünberg
Raststätte / Motel Reinhardshain
(8) Reiskirchener Dreieck A 480 E40
(9) Reiskirchen B 49
parking area
(10) Fernwald B 457
Raststätte Limes
(11) Gambacher Kreuz A 45 E41
(12) Butzbach
Verlegung um 1 km nach norden geplant
(13) Bad Nauheim
(14) Ober-Mörlen B 275
Freiburg-Nord (planned)
Usa
Services Wetterau
(16) Friedberg B 455
Erlenbach
Rest area Friedrichsdorf
(17) Bad Homburger Kreuz A 661
Urselbachtalbrücke 370 m
Urselbach
Services Taunusblick[1]
(18) Nordwestkreuz Frankfurt A 66
Nidda
(19) Westkreuz Frankfurt A 648
(20z) Frankfurt-Rebstock (Nur bei Bedarf)
Frankfurt-Europaviertel (planned)
(20) Frankfurt-Westhafen
Europabrücke 314 m
Main
(21) Frankfurt-Niederrad
(22a) Frankfurt-Flughafen-Nord B 43
(22) Frankfurter Kreuz A 3 E42
(23) Zeppelinheim
Rest area Walldorf
(24) Langen/Mörfelden B 486
Bernd Rosemeyer parking area
Services Gräfenhausen
Rest area Weiterstadt
(25) Weiterstadt B 42
(26) Darmstadt 3-way interchange A 672
(26) Darmstädter Kreuz A 67 E35
(27) Darmstadt-Eberstadt B 3 B 426
Rolandshöhe parking area
(28) Seeheim-Jugenheim
parking area
Services Alsbach
Rest area
(29) Zwingenberg
Scheidweg parking area
Services Bergstraße
(30) Bensheim B 47
parking area
(31) Heppenheim B 460
Heppenheim-Süd (planned)
parking area
(32) Hemsbach
parking area
(33) Weinheim 4-way interchange A 659 B 38
Rest area Fliegwiese/Wachenburg
Weinheim-Süd (planned)
(34) Hirschberg
(35) Ladenburg
parking area
(36) Dossenheim
Neckarbrücke 390 m
(37) Heidelberg 4-way interchange A 656 B 37
(38) Heidelberg/Schwetzingen B 535
Services Hardtwald
parking area
(39) Walldorf/Wiesloch B 291
(40) Walldorf 4-way interchange A 6 E50
Rest area Mönchberg/Lußhardt
(41) Kronau
parking area
Services Bruchsal mit Anschlussstelle
(42) Bruchsal B 35
parking area
Rest area Kreuzlach/Höfenschlag
parking area
(43) Karlsruhe-Nord
(44) Karlsruhe-Durlach B 10
Bahnbrücke 300 m
(45) Karlsruhe-Mitte
(46) Dreieck Karlsruhe 3-way interchange A 8 E52
(47) Ettlingen
(48) Karlsruhe-Süd B 3
Rest area Silbergrund/Schleifweg
(49) Rastatt-Nord B 462
Rastatt-Mitte (planned) [2]
Murgbrücke 251 m
(50) Rastatt-Süd B 3
Services Baden-Baden () Teilausfahrt
(51) Baden-Baden B 500
parking area
Baden-Airpark (planned)
Services Bühl
Weitenung (planned)
(52) Bühl
parking area
(planned)
(53) Achern
parking area
parking area
Services Renchtal
Kreuz (54) Appenweier interchange B 28 E52
parking area
Kinzigbrücke 130 m
(planned)
(55) Offenburg B 33a
parking area
Offenburg-Süd (planned)
parking area
Rest area
parking area
(56) Lahr B 36
parking area
Services Mahlberg
(57a) Ettenheim
(57b) Rust
(58) Herbolzheim
parking area
parking area
(59) Riegel
parking area
(60) Teningen
Am Glotterbach/? parking area
(61) Freiburg-Nord B 294
Services Schauinsland
(62) Freiburg-Mitte B 31a
parking area
(63) Freiburg-Süd B 31
Services Breisgau
(64a) Bad Krozingen B 31
parking area
parking area
Services Markgräfler Land
(64b) Hartheim/Heitersheim
parking area
Rest area Neuenburg
(65) Müllheim/Neuenburg am Rhein
B 378
Mautfrei bis zum Grenzübergang
parking area
(66) Neuenburg 3-way interchange A 862 E54
Services Bad Bellingen
parking area
Rest area Fischergrund/Rheinaue
(67) Efringen-Kirchen
(68) Weil am Rhein 3-way interchange A 98 E54
parking area
(69) Weil am Rhein/Hüningen B 532
Services Weil
(70) Border crossing Weil am Rhein
To use motorways in Schweiz a
Vignette
is needed.
Services Basel/Weil
A 2 / E35 Schweiz
South endSwiss border near Basel
Location
CountryGermany
StatesHessen, Baden-Württemberg
Highway system
  • Roads in Germany
A 4 A 6

The A5 passes by the Frankfurt Airport.[3]

History edit

Nazi era edit

Construction for the first section, between Frankfurt and Darmstadt was started on 23 September 1933 by Adolf Hitler. Propaganda falsely celebrated the project as "the Führer's Autobahn" and "Germany's first Autobahn," but the AVUS race track in Berlin was opened in September 1921. The first public Autobahn was the Cologne-Bonn highway which was inaugurated August 1932 (later called A 555). It was downgraded to a state highway (German: Bundesstrasse) in order to let the Nazi propaganda proclaim that the Reichsautobahn Frankfurt-Darmstadt was the first ever built in Germany.

 
Motorway exit from the A5 to the US Rhein-Main Air Base in 1988
 
Rare sight in Europe: 4 lanes in each direction of travel for 21 kilometers. The section between Zeppelinheim and Darmstadt, it is the oldest Autobahn.

In 1926, a private association proposed a highway from Hamburg via Frankfurt to Basel (HaFraBa) - these plans were stopped in the Reichstag by a coalition of Communists and Nazis. Hitler still used these plans after he came to power in 1933. Work progressed slowly, however, because Hitler favored east–west routes. The HaFraBa was renamed "Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung der Reichsautobahnen", which translates "Company for the preparation of the Reich highways".

Post war edit

 
A 5 in 1975 (blue represents parts that were built, orange represents parts that were planned but never built)

After the war, plans to continue the A 5 to the north were abandoned for ecological reasons. Instead, an already completed section of the proposed A 48 near Gießen was used to connect the A 5 to the A 7 from Hamburg. The HaFraBa route was finally completed in 1962, which led to the A 5 southern route Darmstadt, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, Rastatt, Baden-Baden, Freiburg, Weil am Rhein, ending at the Swiss border near Basle, at the Bundesautobahn 98 and B3. Near Frankfurt, the highway is one of the busiest in Germany with an average of 150,000 vehicles per day.

The part between Frankfurt and Darmstadt with a length of about 25 km was the first and still is Germany's longest Autobahn section with 8 lanes. The A5 runs parallel and just west of the Bundesstraße 3 for many kilometers, crossing the B3 near Rastatt. In the city of Karlsruhe, the A5 meets the A 8.

A 10 km (6.2 mi) section of A 5 south of Frankfurt were installed with overhead lines for hybrid trucks to use starting in May 2019. Siemens built the lines with Scania AB providing the trucks.[4]

Gallery edit

References edit

  1. ^ autobahn-online.de: Forum
  2. ^ Hit 1 Radio: Rastatt soll Autobahnanschluss "Rastatt-Mitte" bekommen
  3. ^ Daniel (1 January 2020). "Frankfurt Airport". FRANKFURTER. Archived from the original on 1 January 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2020.
  4. ^ Sachgau, Oliver (13 May 2019). "Germany's First 'Electric' Highway Charges Trucks as They Drive". Bloomberg. Retrieved 13 May 2019.

External links edit

  •   Geographic data related to Bundesautobahn 5 at OpenStreetMap
  • Bundesautobahn 5 – detailed route plan (in German)
  • Working Papers in History of Mobility including the HaFraBa by Prof. Vahrenkamp, of the University of Kassel