Bundesstrasse 437

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-B
	Bundesstrasse 437 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Friedeburg ; ( 53 ° 27 ′ N , 7 ° 51 ′ E )
End of street:	Stotel ; ( 53 ° 27 ′ N , 8 ° 35 ′ E )
Overall length:	61 km
State :	Lower Saxony

The federal highway 437 (abbreviation: B 437 ) leads from Friedeburg , where it branches off the federal highway 436 , in the district of Wittmund via Bockhorn and Varel in the district of Friesland and Stadland in the district of Wesermarsch to the highway 27 to Stotel in the district of Cuxhaven , south of Bremerhaven . The B 437 offers the northernmost opportunity to get on a road from East Friesland to the Weser and from the west to the east bank of the Weser.

history

The road from Varel to Rodenkirchen was built in 1865. This well-developed country road was rededicated on January 1, 1962 as Bundesstraße 437.

Since January 2004, the federal road has crossed under the Weser ( Weser Tunnel ) south of the towns of Nordenham and Bremerhaven in a 1645 meter long tunnel . Apart from ferries, this tunnel is the only east-west connection between the last bridge in Bremen and the mouth of the Weser into the North Sea . The tunnel is closed to pedestrians and cyclists. After the tunnel was completed, the Weser ferry near Dedesdorf was shut down. The high-speed ferry Brake – Sandstedt was initially reduced to an hourly service, but then privatized and now runs every 20 minutes during the day.

Planning for the Weser crossing began in 1987. Construction began on February 16, 1998. Two two-lane tunnel tubes were built, which are 32.7 meters apart. There are also two entry and exit ramps, each 395 and 405 meters long. The tunnel tubes are also connected to each other with four cross tubes so that in an emergency one can get to the other tunnel tube to safety. The entire structure, including the connection to the road network, cost around 275 million euros.

In Varel , the B 437 was narrowed before the opening of the Weser Tunnel, which now leads to problems in the passage to the A 29 due to the sharp increase in traffic . Road traffic from JadeWeserPort to the area east of the Weser is to be taken up in the future by the A 20 , which is to lead south of Jaderberg to the Weser tunnel.