Federal motorway 480

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-A
	Bundesautobahn 480 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Aßlar ; ( 50 ° 35 ′ N , 8 ° 29 ′ E )
End of street:	Reiskirchener Dreieck ; ( 50 ° 37 ′ N , 8 ° 49 ′ E )
Overall length:	19.4 km
State :	Hesse
Development condition:	four-lane
	The A 480 at the Wetzlarer Kreuz in the ; direction of the end of the motorway at Blasbach ; with 3 lanes one above the other
	Under construction; In planning; Traffic control system ;

The federal highway 480 (abbreviation: BAB 480 ) - short form: Autobahn 480 (abbreviation: A 480 ) - is a highway between Wetzlar and Reiskirchen in central Hesse .

course

The A 480 runs in two sections from the B 277 from Wetzlarer Dillfeld, junction Aßlar to the Wetzlar district of Blasbach and from Wettenberg to the Reiskirchener Dreieck . The Aßlar – Blasbach section acts primarily as a feeder to the Wetzlarer Kreuz ( A 45 ).

Between the Wettenberg junction ( B 429 ) and the Gießener Nordkreuz ( A 485 ) it is part of the Gießener Ring .

History and state of construction

In 1971 the Wetzlarer Kreuz was opened to traffic and connected to the B 277, which at that time led directly from Aßlar to Hermannstein . In 1974 it was further built up to what was then the B 277a (now the B 277). From 1975 to 1981 the sections between Wettenberg and the Reiskirchener Dreieck were completed.

All sections of the motorway are four-lane with hard shoulder. Similar to the A 45 south of the Gambacher Kreuz junction, the A 480 between Wetzlarer Kreuz and Aßlar has a cross-section with an extra-wide median as an advance payment for a later expansion to six lanes, as the planning of the A 48 provided for a high volume of traffic.

The Wetzlarer Kreuz is the only motorway junction in Germany that was completely built in the Maltese shape.

Former planning

The A 480 was formerly part of the abandoned planning of the A 48 . This traffic relationship runs today via the federal highway 49, which was developed for this purpose .

The construction of the 11 km long link between the Wetzlarer Kreuz near Blasbach and the Wettenberg junction was still planned for many years and was supposed to begin traffic on the missing section of the A 4 between the Olpe junction and the Hattenbacher Dreieck . This planning was classified in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 as a further requirement with an established high ecological risk and deleted without replacement in the subsequent Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 . This traffic relationship now runs from the Wetzlar-Ost junction on the B 49 and leads over the B 429 to the Wettenberg junction.

Expansion planning for 2019

As part of the necessary demolition of the B49 elevated road in Wetzlar, a possible planning variant is currently to extend the A480 beyond the Aßlar motorway exit by approx. 2.5 kilometers southwest to the current route of the B49 between Dalheim and Oberbiel , should the B49 no longer will be led through the city center of Wetzlar via an elevated road as before. This variant is also desired by local politicians.