Federal motorway 98

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-A
	Bundesautobahn 98 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Autobahn triangle Weil am Rhein ; ( 47 ° 37 ′ N , 7 ° 35 ′ E )
End of street:	Stockach ; ( 47 ° 50 ′ N , 9 ° 1 ′ E )
Overall length:	81 km
of which in operation:	44.5 km
of which under construction:	2.5 km
of which in planning:	34 km
State :	Baden-Württemberg;
	State of Baden-Württemberg
	Under construction; In planning; Traffic control system ;

The federal autobahn 98 (abbreviation BAB 98 ) - short form Autobahn 98 (abbreviation A 98 ) - is currently only four sections with a total length of 44.5 kilometers in the extreme south of Baden-Württemberg . It currently runs between the Weil am Rhein interchange and the Hochrhein interchange ( A 861 ), Murg and Hauenstein, Waldshut-Tiengen and Lauchringen and between the Hegau interchange and the Stockach -Ost junction . The remaining sections between Rheinfelden and Tiengen are under construction or in planning, a previously planned continuation to the A 8 near Irschenberg is no longer being pursued.

course

Weil am Rhein - Rheinfelden-Karsau

A 98 with the Lörrach- Mitte exit , the Wiesentalbrücke in the background

The first section of the A 98 begins at the Weil am Rhein triangle , which is located directly on the French border, where it branches off from the A 5 ( Hattenbacher Dreieck - Basel ). From the Weil am Rhein motorway triangle, the A 98 leads up a slight incline to the Luckepass and then descends again to Lörrach , where it runs on the Wiesentalbrücke , the third longest road bridge in Baden-Württemberg at 1211 meters. This bypasses the district town to the northeast. This section is currently around 16 kilometers long and serves - together with the A 861 - as a northern bypass of the greater Basel area and as a feeder to the city of Lörrach. In the 1980s, this section was released up to the Lörrach-Ost junction (6) (formerly Lörrach / Inzlingen ) at Waidhof . The extension to the Hochrhein triangle north-west of Rheinfelden was completed in 2002, initially with a single lane, together with the adjoining section of the A 861 through the Nollinger Berg tunnel . In December 2010, this section of the route was supplemented by a second lane and thus received motorway status. At the same time, the main bridge structure was built in the future motorway triangle.

The 2.5 kilometer long section east of the still unfinished motorway triangle to the Rheinfelden-Karsau junction (8) is currently under construction. The heart of the route is the Herrschaftsbuck tunnel. The construction work for this began in 2012 with preliminary cuts. The release of the section was delayed due to several construction stops. In 2015, construction work on the section was resumed and the shell of the tunnel was put out to tender. According to the current status of planning, this should be opened to traffic in mid-2021.

Murg to Hauenstein

The next section is between Murg and Laufenburg - Hauenstein and is about 9 kilometers long. This was opened on October 8, 2012, but has only one lane. Except for tunnels and bridges, most of the lanes are laid out in the alternating 2 + 1 system . During the construction, however, the space for the addition of a second lane was already reserved. The road leads through two tunnels, the 280 m long Groß-Ehrstädt tunnel and the 395 m long Rappenstein tunnel. The connection between Hauenstein and the existing B 34 bypass Albbruck / Dogern has been set up as a temporary solution and is currently being redesigned. Due to the curves and the incline, this makeshift motorway exit is very accident-prone. Since the start of operations in 2007, the Hauenstein exit has become a hot spot for accidents. Many accidents with numerous minor and serious injuries and one fatality are the result to this day.

Tiengen to Lauchringen

The third section of the motorway was released in two stages in 1991 and 1997 and is also only equipped with one lane, with the route already being laid out wide enough for a second lane. It currently serves as a bypass for the city of Tiengen and the municipality of Lauchringen . Starting at the Tiengen-West junction , the Wutach is crossed and the road bypasses Tiengen south in the Bürgerwaldtunnel , currently the longest tunnel on the autobahn at 1,435 m. After crossing the Wutach again, the Tiengen-Ost connection follows . The 160 m long Heidenäckertunnel connects to the northern bypass of Lauchringen. The currently expanded section of the A 98 ends at the junction of the same name. The continuation to Geißlingen will not be a motorway, but a new B 34 and will be under construction until the end of 2021.

In 2010 this section between Tiengen-West and Lauchringen was extended to three lanes ( 2 + 1 system ). For the four-lane expansion, the second tunnel tubes of the two tunnels as well as a bridge structure at the Wutach crossings are missing.

Sing to Stockach

The fourth and most easterly section is also known (next to the A 81 ) as the Bodenseautobahn and was opened on June 4, 1982. It begins at the Hegau junction on the route originally planned as a section of the A 98 from the direction of Gottmadingen , leads through the Hegau and ends after approx. 14 kilometers at the Stockach-Ost junction (13). The connection also serves as a feeder to the places on the northern (German) shore of Lake Constance . Then follows the B 31n to Überlingen , which runs on the route of the once planned continuation of the motorway and is expanded in the 2 + 1 system.

Traffic volume

In 2015 there were a total of four automatic counting points along the A 98. In the west-east direction, the average daily traffic volume during this period was:

Counting point	Motor vehicle traffic / day	Heavy traffic / day
Loerrach (8003)	25.123	2,092
Murg (8116)	6,804	836
Leek rings (8998)	10,796	1,379
Stockach (8040)	24,579	2,846

history

original A 98 planning; blue: today's motorway expansion, orange: planned in 1976

Bumper sticker from supporters of the expansion of the A 98 from the 1980s

The plans for the trunk road come from the 1960s; it was originally supposed to run from Weil am Rhein to the A 8 near Irschenberg . Most of it has been abandoned. So was u. a. the section north of Lake Constance was replaced by individual three to four-lane expansion stages of the B 31 due to the protests there . To date (as of April 2020) there is no continuous connection along Lake Constance without local transit, instead the problem of through traffic is to be alleviated primarily with the help of individual bypasses. East of Stockach only the short A 980 near Kempten and a partially completed motorway junction on the A95 ( 47 ° 44 ′ 31.5 ″ N , 11 ° 19 ′ 54.7 ″ E ) near Penzberg testify to the once planned continuation of the motorway . 47.742079 11.331861

For a long time, the SPD on the Upper Rhine was against motorway planning due to major interventions and called for a so-called "High Rhine Expressway". At the urging of the CDU and the change of the then Bundestag member Karin Rehbock-Zureich , the A 98 was included in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003. It was hoped that the construction of the A 98 would relieve the communities affected by through traffic. The Greens are against the construction of the A 98 to this day (as of April 2020) and are calling for the B 34 to be expanded.

The plan was also to build a new four-lane bridge over the Rhine between the German-French border at Märkt and the Weil am Rhein motorway triangle to link the A 98 with the French motorway network. The planned route on French territory, which had been kept free for years, was deleted from the spatial planning in 2011. A planned connection to the west was thereby omitted. A connection in the east to the A 81 is only possible via the B 314 along the border with Switzerland. Due to the topography, an expansion as a motorway is out of the question.

The Murg – Hauenstein and Tiengen – Lauchringen sections are signposted as motorways . They were built as a so-called "longitudinally split urgency".

The Lörrach – Singen planning section is known as the “Hochrheinautobahn”, the Singen– Lindau section should have been called the “ Bodenseautobahn ” and the further stretch between Lindau and Irschenberg on the A 8 is called the “Voralpenautobahn”.

The designation "Bodenseautobahn" has been used since the planning for the A 81 in the Stuttgart – Singen section, which leads from the Stuttgart conurbation to the popular holiday area of Lake Constance.

Construction progress / planning status

Tunnel through the ruler's bucket

The two tunnel tubes, the construction of which began in 2016, will be designed for a total of five lanes (since the eastward threading lane coming from the A 861 must not end in the tunnel for safety reasons). Completion of the section is scheduled for 2021. Furthermore, the new construction with two lanes between the Rheinfelden-Karsau junction and the Murg-Rothaus junction and between the Hauenstein and Tiengen- West junction is still planned as an urgent requirement according to the currently applicable federal transport route plan.

Rheinfelden-Karsau to Schwörstadt

The planning approval procedure was opened in 2017 for the section between Rheinfelden-Karsau and Schwörstadt (A 98.5). The start of construction is currently still uncertain. a. because the eastern end of the perimeter depends on the alignment of the following section A 98.6.

Schwörstadt to Murg (Upper Rhine)

The plans for the section from Schwörstadt via Bad Säckingen to Murg (A 98.6) were u. a. carried out as part of a public participation process. The specification of the preferred variant in Section A 98.6 is planned for the end of 2020. Construction could not be Template: future / in 5 yearscompleted until 2029/2030 at the earliest .

Hauenstein to Waldshut-Tiengen

The planning in the section Hauenstein (Laufenburg) - Tiengen-West (A 98.8) is completely suspended after the prioritization of the state of Baden-Württemberg. The formerly planned mountain route in this section was already classified as critical in the 1990s due to environmental problems and was no longer pursued at that time. Meanwhile, a mountain route along the southern foothills of the southern Black Forest would cut through at least three FFH areas, as well as forest and landscape protection areas, a bird sanctuary, several water protection areas, as well as the "Southern Black Forest Nature Park" and the new Unesco biosphere area "Southern Black Forest" (Südkurierdossier A 98).

Based on the results of the traffic analysis on the A 98 (Bürgerforum Bad Säckingen) and the high ecological pollution with large land consumption , the state of Baden-Württemberg has the alternative route in the form of a 3-4-lane "B 34-new" to register the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 suggested. This is based on tunneling under the city of Waldshut. It would be up to 150 million cheaper than the mountain route.

Leek rings to upper garlic rings

The section east of Lauchringen will definitely no longer be built as a planned A 98 route, but only as a new B 34 (Südkurierdossier A 98, September 24, 2016). The A 98 ends at the Lauchringen junction. The exit and driveway onto the B 314 towards Wutachtal- Randen and the bridge over the B 314 have already been completed or will be adapted. The bridge over the Wutach and the crossings of the Wutachtalbahn and the Hochrheinbahn are under construction. The future connection with the crossing of the Klingengraben to the B 34 in the direction of Erzingen-Schaffhausen has already been established.

After the Federal Ministry of Transport had downgraded the section to a B 34 new, Lauchringen's Mayor Schäuble now speaks of an excellent cost-benefit ratio. The new prioritization that followed brought progress. With the new B 34 as a bypass (2.3 km), it was possible to achieve a faster alternative to the originally planned section than the A 98. Previously, the community representatives of Lauchringen, as well as the state and Bundestag members of the CDU and SPD, had only adhered to a motorway tracing from 1992 to 2006 (Südkurierdossier A 98, September 24, 2016). Fabian Wunderle from the SPD local club Lauchringen points out that it was right to use a B 34 instead of sticking to the motorway variant. The completion of the Oberlauchringen bypass is planned for the end of 2021.

Plans to connect the B 34 to the A 81 and A 4 (Switzerland)

A route from Lauchringen to Singen (Hohentwiel) to the existing section of the federal motorway 81 near Gottmadingen is desired by the German side, but Switzerland still categorically rejects a route through its area. According to a route plan from the state of Baden-Württemberg , the A 98 would have been routed from its previously planned end point at Geißlingen through the Jestetter Zipfel via Dettighofen , Jestetten and Lottstetten near Balm to the Swiss border. Here Switzerland should have continued the A 98 across its national territory and connected to the existing A 81 at Singen. It is very unlikely that this plan will ever be realized; it is therefore no longer pursued. Instead, the connection is to be accelerated thanks to individual expansion and new construction measures along the existing network, such as the Oberlauchringen bypass, the Galgenbuck tunnel and the planned expansion of the Schaffhausen ( A 4 ) through town.

In 2007, a planning study by the canton of Schaffhausen assumed that the A 81 should be connected directly to the Swiss A 4 by bypassing Bietingen and Thayngen in a wide arc and creating a completely new section of the motorway (including a 4800 m long border tunnel) should be built shortly before Schaffhausen- Herblingen . This planning is currently no longer actively pursued.

With the so-called “New Network Resolution”, the road network in the canton of Schaffhausen was adapted to the real transit traffic flows on January 1, 2020: The previous J15 was upgraded from the Mutzentäli junction to the Thayngen / Bietingen border crossing to the N 4 national road , in return the Previous N 4 up to the Bargen / Neuhaus am Randen border crossing to the cantonal motorway. The federal government is now responsible for the expansion of this road connection; in the longer term (until around 2040), the entire section between Uhwiesen and the border at Thayngen is to be expanded to include four lanes. The canton of Schaffhausen has proposed a variant to the federal government in which a 1200 m long tunnel would only have to be built for one direction of travel and thus the topographically narrow and partially protected Fulach valley would not have to be stressed too much.

Opinions on route decisions and initiatives at local level

The regional association Hochrhein-Bodensee, the district Waldshut, the city of Laufenburg and the municipality of Albbruck commissioned a planning study in 2011 to determine a safe and technically sensible solution for the Hauenstein exit, which ultimately recommends a shortened tunnel solution. The "Albert" tunnel is to have a length of around 185 m.

Waldshut-Tiengen-Ost: A 98 motorway bridge over the Wutach at the Bürgerwald tunnel

The former black and yellow state government and the regional council had adhered to the official variant with roundabout / traffic light solution in their time. The media reported in this context of political influence. A petition procedure initiated in 2010 in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg was concluded in 2015 and prompted the state and federal government to plan a tunnel solution. Citizen participation is currently underway on behalf of the Freiburg Regional Council (Südkurierdossier A 98, February 4, 2017)

In section A 98.5 / 6, the Hochrhein-Bodensee regional association, the cities of Bad Säckingen and Wehr, the Waldshut district and the Schluchseewerke jointly commissioned a feasibility study to examine an alternative to the previous official mountain route. The result is the so-called "consensus road".

The Federation for Environment and Nature Conservation Germany counts the A 98 among the twelve most senseless road construction projects in Germany. The A 98 is overpriced, oversized and does not remove any bottlenecks, but causes massive damage to nature. The BUND considers the Hochrheinautobahn (A 98) to be particularly destructive to nature and questionable in terms of traffic. He calls for the expansion of the federal highway 34, since the A 98 "ends in the field" after Tiengen anyway.

The IHK Hochrhein-Bodensee criticizes the statements of the BUND on the A 98 and describes it as "dusslig". The development function of a motorway for a region and its supra-regional network function should not be hidden.

The Government of Freiburg as a competent licensing authority issued on 18 March 2013 the section Weir Murg the so-called "citizens' forum on the Upper Rhine for comparison of alternatives and transparency" one.

Transport economic study 2013

In the course of the project registration for the new Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2015, the state of BW (MVI Baden-Württemberg) and the federal government commissioned a transport economic study on the A 98, which was published on October 25, 2013. Due to the only slight increase in traffic to be expected up to the year 2030, the result is that a four-lane A 98 is not necessary. A three-lane expansion cross-section of the still missing sections would be sufficient to create the necessary high-performance connection on the Upper Rhine. This can also be achieved by expanding the existing B 34 to three lanes. In the interest of land consumption in a sensitive natural location, a three-lane expansion cross-section between Rheinfelden and Waldshut-Tiengen is recommended as sufficient - but also necessary. The investigation predicts the highest traffic load for the B 314. Up to 30,000 vehicles per day are expected there. In the Bad Säckingen and Waldshut areas, the forecasts are between 21,000 and 24,000 vehicles per day. There it is predominantly destination and source traffic. The long-distance traffic share would still be very low. An A 98 would therefore only relieve the through traffic of Bad Säckingen and Waldshut by approx. 30-35% and in return lead to disadvantageous traffic shifts from the A 3 (CH). Based on the results of the traffic analysis, the state has presented the federal government in the Hauenstein-Tiengen section with the four-lane expansion of the B 34 as an alternative.

Trivia

The second law amending the law on the expansion of federal trunk roads from 1971 to 1985 from August 25, 1980 resulted in the original section of the A 98 between Gottmadingen and the Hegau junction being reassigned to the A 81, which was originally up to Constancy should go. Instead, the connection from Kreuz Hegau in the direction of Konstanz was run as an expressway with the number B 33 .
Since October 2006 the sections between Laufenburg and Hauenstein and between Tiengen-West and Lauchringen and since October 2012 also the section between Murg-Rothaus and Laufenburg have been exempt from the truck toll in order to relieve the communities on the B 34 . Furthermore, the sections mentioned are signposted as a motor road and not as a motorway, this should only happen after the complete expansion to four lanes.
Although an alternative route of the A 98 through the Wutachtal is not (at least so far) under discussion, the long-distance destination Stuttgart is listed on the signposts on the section between Tiengen-West and Lauchringen . On the further B 314 , on the other hand, there are no signs to this destination.
Since the A 98 was largely not implemented, the distant A 8 is the southernmost motorway that crosses Baden-Württemberg in a west-east direction.
The numbering of the motorway junctions is still a bit inconsistent on the different stages. The numbers 11 and 12 are used both for the Murg and Laufenburg connections and for the Hegau and Stockach-West crosses .

literature

Klaus Schefold, Alois Neher (Ed.): 50 years of motorways in Baden-Württemberg. A documentation. On behalf of the Autobahn Office Baden-Württemberg. Baden-Württemberg motorway office, Stuttgart 1986.
Hubert Krins: Bodenseautobahn threatens the cultural landscape. For the route at the former Salem Monastery. In: Preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 4th year 1975, issue 1, pp. 22–24 ( PDF )
Martin Mahle: The Phantom - The Bodensee-Autobahn A98. A transport policy memorandum. ISBN 978-1-5376-2025-1 , 2016

Web links

Commons : Bundesautobahn 98 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ The excavators are rolling again on the A 98

↑ The expansion of the A98 near Rheinfelden is delayed

↑ Südkurierdossier A98

↑ A 98 Singen - Lindau

↑ bast - Federal Highway Research Institute: Automatic counting stations 2015 - A 98 . Online at www.bast.de, accessed on October 22, 2016.

↑ The expansion of the A98 near Rheinfelden is delayed

↑ Information event on the A 98: “We don't want to have to come to the opening with the rollator”. In: Südkurier . November 16, 2017, accessed April 27, 2020 .

↑ Gerald Edinger and Monika Olheide: Hochrhein: It has become quiet around the Hochrheinautobahn. How and when will the A98 planning continue? February 10, 2020, accessed April 27, 2020 .

↑ Stefan Sahli: A98 relieves Bad Säckingen at the earliest in 2029. In: Badische Zeitung . October 21, 2013, accessed April 3, 2014 .

↑ Monika Olheide: Lauchringen / Schaffhausen: 35 minutes faster by car from Waldshut-Tiengen to Singen? Thanks to these two major projects, that should be possible soon. April 21, 2019, accessed April 28, 2020 .

^ Submission to the municipal council - planning study N4-A81. (PDF; 28 kB) Gottmadingen municipality - building authority, March 14, 2007, accessed on June 3, 2015 .