Federal motorway 3

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-A
	Bundesautobahn 3 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Emmerich - Elten ; ( 51 ° 54 ′ N , 6 ° 10 ′ E )
End of street:	Neuhaus am Inn ; ( 48 ° 25 ′ N , 13 ° 26 ′ E )
Overall length:	769 km
State :	North Rhine-Westphalia; Rhineland-Palatinate; Hesse; Baden-Württemberg; Bavaria;
Development condition:	2 × 2, 2 × 3, 3 + 4 and 2 × 4 lanes
	Bundesautobahn 3 - bridge over the Neandertal
	State of North Rhine-Westphalia
	State of Rhineland-Palatinate
	State of Hesse
	Free State of Bavaria

The federal autobahn 3 (abbreviation: BAB 3 ) - short form: autobahn 3 (abbreviation: A3 ) - is one of the most important German autobahns and with a length of 769 km it is the second longest in Germany after the A 7 . Since it merges seamlessly into the A 2 at the Oberhausen junction , this seamlessly into the A 10 , and this in turn seamlessly merges into the A 19 , it is part of the longest through carriageway in Germany with over 1,500 km. It leads from the Dutch border through the Ruhr area , the Cologne area, the Rhine-Main area , Franconia and Eastern Bavaria to the Austrian border.

As a direct connection of the North Sea ports with Southern and Eastern Europe, as well as part of the European roads 34 , 35 , 41 , 42 , 44 , 45 and 56 it forms one of the major European roads .

course

Emmerich to Cologne

The A 3 begins at the Elten border crossing in North Rhine-Westphalia as a four-lane continuation of the Dutch A 12 coming from The Hague . It leads through the flat landscape of the right Lower Rhine , at Emmerich am Rhein at first very close and in parts even parallel to the Dutch border. Between Wesel and Hünxe , the Lippe and the Wesel-Datteln Canal are crossed and the motorway reaches Dinslaken and thus the western Ruhr area . At the first motorway junction, the Oberhausen junction, the main carriageway continues as the A 516 into the center of Oberhausen . To stay on the A 3, you have to turn at the cross, as it changes here to the continuing route of the A 2 that begins here .

From Oberhausen, the A 3 has been expanded to six lanes and now follows the busy Reichsautobahntrasse, which was built in the 1930s, via Cologne to Frankfurt. First of all, Oberhausen is bypassed to the west and the A 42 (Emscherschnellweg, Kamp-Lintfort - Dortmund ) is crossed at the Oberhausen-West junction, the motorway running through the middle of a densely populated area. Then the Ruhr is crossed and Duisburg is reached, where the A 40 ( Venlo –Dortmund) crosses at the Kaiserberg junction . Directly behind the cross, it leads through the Duisburg city forest and through the middle of the Duisburg Zoo , with the areas to the left and right of the A3 being connected by a striking bridge with plants since 1997, which also crosses the parallel railway line.

After the Duisburg city forest has been left, the A 52 ( Düsseldorf - Essen ) crosses at the Breitscheid junction and the A 44 a few kilometers further near Ratingen , which is to be extended via the Ratingen-Ost junction to Heiligenhaus in the south of Essen. From here the A 3 forms the eastern part of the Düsseldorf motorway ring . Here the landscape of the Niederbergisches Land becomes slightly hilly. The road leads through the easternmost district of Hubbelrath in the North Rhine-Westphalian state capital Düsseldorf and across the Neandertal in Erkrath, which is formed by the river Düssel, which gives it its name . Before the Hilden junction , the Niederbergische is left again before the A 46 ( Heinsberg - Wuppertal ) crosses and the Düsseldorf motorway ring is left again.

In Solingen , the A 542 ends at the Langenfeld triangle , which is a cross-connection to the A 59 that runs parallel between Düsseldorf and Leverkusen . Then the Leverkusen district of Opladen and finally the Leverkusen junction are reached. Here crosses the A 3, A 1 , which is also one of the longest and most important motorways in Germany. Together with this and the A 4 , the A 3 forms the Cologne motorway ring from here .

After the cross, the autobahn has eight lanes. First, the core city of Leverkusen will be connected, in the immediate vicinity of which the main plant of the Bayer chemical company is located. Then the A3 reaches the Cologne city area and the Mülheim district on the right bank of the Rhine . At the Köln-Ost junction , the A 4 branches off to the east in the direction of Olpe . At the same time, the motorway-like B 55a leads to Cologne city center and the Deutz district . Up to the next junction, the Köln-Heumar triangle , the A 3 and A 4 run on a common, still eight-lane route. There the A 4 leads again on its own route, forms the southern part of the Cologne motorway ring and continues to Aachen . At the same time, at a fork in the south, the A 59 branches off to Bonn , which also connects the Cologne / Bonn airport .

Border crossing Elten / Beek
In front of the Kaiserberg cross
Between Düsseldorf and Leverkusen
Eight-lane A3 near Cologne

Cologne to Frankfurt

After leaving the Kölner Ring at Am Dreieck Heumar, the A 3 has six lanes again. It crosses the Königsforst and reaches the Agger valley , which it follows until shortly before Lohmar . At Siegburg it crosses the Sieg and crosses the A 560 ( St. Augustin - Hennef ) at the Bonn / Siegburg junction . From the south, this motorway also serves as a feeder to Bonn. After Siegburg, the flat landscape of the Cologne Bay is left and the hilly route leads past the Siebengebirge into the Westerwald . For the first time, the high-speed route Cologne – Rhine / Main meets the motorway route, which it follows parallel to Frankfurt for long stretches. At Bad Honnef it crosses the state border to Rhineland-Palatinate and leads on the pre-war road over some valley bridges, many uphill and downhill sections through the Westerwald. The ICE line, completed in 2002, runs through numerous tunnels and viaducts. One of the most famous structures is the Hallerbachtal Bridge , which runs parallel to the A 3 in the depression .

At the Dernbach triangle , the A 48 branches off to Koblenz and the A 3 leads via Montabaur to Limburg . This section is marked by a distinctive gradient into the Limburg basin , the Elzer Berg . Due to numerous accidents, the speed here is permanently limited to 100 km / h, which is monitored with the help of two stationary speed measurement systems. In the uphill section towards Cologne, the hard shoulder can also be released as an additional lane when there is high traffic. The federal state also changes at Elzer Berg, the A3 leads here to Hesse . Near Limburg, it crosses the Lahn valley in eight lanes on a 62 m high bridge . It then leads through the Idsteiner Senke , still parallel to the ICE line.

At Idstein , the Taunus ridge is crossed at its narrowest point. Behind it a continuous gradient continues and the urban area of the Hessian state capital Wiesbaden has been reached. At the Wiesbadener Kreuz junction it crosses the A 66 ( Frankfurt –Wiesbaden) and leads down another slope to the Main , which is crossed for the first time at Raunheim . Directly behind the branches Mönchhof Triangle the A67 to Darmstadt that represents an important corner connection to the southwest.

From here, the landscape is flat and characterized by extensive forest areas. A temporary shoulder clearance has been set up in both directions between Mönchhofdreieck and Kelsterbach . In this area, the A3 runs under two taxiway bridges, which enable the aircraft to reach the north-west runway of Frankfurt Airport , which is north of the motorway . The two terminals of Germany's largest airport are located in the immediate vicinity of the motorway, as is the airport's ICE train station , which is connected to the terminals by a wide covered pedestrian walkway. North-east of the airport, the A5 ( Hattenbacher Dreieck - Basel ) crosses at the Frankfurter Kreuz . This junction is the busiest motorway junction in Germany (around 350,000 vehicles per day). At the same time, the ICE line crosses under the two motorways in the Frankfurter Kreuz tunnel and branches off onto the Riedbahn, which runs in a north-south direction .

At the Bonn / Siegburg cross
Basin with a view of the Hallerbachtal bridge running parallel
Elzer Berg seen from the east
Frankfurt airport long-distance train station

Frankfurt to Nuremberg

The section from the Frankfurt to the Offenbacher Kreuz forms the southern part of the Frankfurt motorway ring and has eight lanes. Between the two crosses, the Frankfurt-Süd junction is the only connection from the A 3 to Frankfurt city center. The Commerzbank-Arena is not far from the motorway . For major events in the stadium, an additional lane can be opened in the westerly direction of travel. The A 661 ( Oberursel - Egelsbach ) is connected to the Offenbacher Kreuz, and a junction integrated into the Kreuz provides the connection to Offenbach city center and Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen .

From here the motorway has six lanes again, but up to the Hanau junction , which is built like a motorway junction and crosses the motorway-like B 45 , the hard shoulder can be released as an additional lane when there is high traffic. Via the B 45 there is a continuous motorway-like connection to the Hanauer Kreuz ( A 45 / A 66) and to the east of Darmstadt via the B 26 . Then the A 45 coming from Dortmund ends at the Seligenstädter Dreieck on the A3. The border between Hesse and Bavaria runs right through the triangle .

After the Stockstadt junction , the Main is crossed for the second time and Aschaffenburg is bypassed. The motorway runs east of the city, near Goldbach , through two noise protection tunnels over a length of around 2.2 km. Behind Hösbach the route rises and crosses the Spessart , a wooded low mountain range. From Rohrbrunn to Wertheim , where the Main will be crossed for the third time near Bettingen , the motorway has not yet been expanded to consist of six lanes and will be expanded at great expense until 2019, with the new route partially deviating from the old one. A short distance between the Main Bridge and the Helmstadt junction is in Baden-Württemberg . Shortly before reaching Würzburg , the A 81 branches off to Heilbronn at the Würzburg-West triangle .

The Würzburg bypass will also be expanded to include six lanes on a short section. Two larger bridge structures and a tunnel will be built. From the route that slopes down towards the Main Valley, you have a wide view of the Lower Franconian district capital. After crossing the Main for the fourth time at Randersacker , the route rises again from the Main Valley and crosses the A 7 ( Flensburg - Füssen ) at the Biebelried junction .

Behind Biebelried, the A3 is again four-lane, but has been expanded with six lanes on some sections since 2016. First the Main is crossed for the fifth and last time at Dettelbach , then the route behind Wiesentheid reaches the mountainous Steigerwald , which is crossed at Geiselwind . Behind it it then leads down the valley of the Reichen Ebrach to Höchstadt and then in a south-easterly direction through the Aischgrund to Erlangen . After the district Frauenaurach the Main-Donau-channel and the Regnitz were crossed crosses at Fürth / Erlangen the A 73 ( Suhl - Bamberg - Nuremberg ). Then the now six-lane A3 crosses an extensive forest area and connects the city of Nuremberg with several junctions. Even the Nuremberg airport is located near the highway. It crosses the Pegnitz and reaches the Nuremberg cross . To stay on the A 3 here, you have to leave the main lane in an easterly direction, as it continues seamlessly in a 90 ° curve as the main lane of the A 9 to Munich . Conversely, if you are coming from the south, in order to continue on the A 9 in the direction of Berlin, you have to leave the main lane as this continues seamlessly onto the A 3 in the direction of Frankfurt.

Noise protection enclosure near Goldbach / Hösbach
Spessart crossing still four lanes
In the Würzburg-West triangle

Nuremberg to Passau

After Nuremberg, the A 6 ( Saarbrücken - Waidhaus ) crosses, again with four lanes, at the Altdorf junction at the motorway junction of the same name and the wooded Nuremberg area is left. The motorway initially leads through the Schwarzachtal and climbs up to the Franconian Alb near Neumarkt . The winding and hilly route crosses this low mountain range and descends near Sinzing into the Danube valley . This is where the river, to which the motorway runs largely parallel to Passau, is crossed for the first time. Immediately behind it crosses the A 93 ( Hof - Dreieck Holledau ) and reaches Regensburg . The university , which has its own junction, is located directly on the motorway . The section from Kreuz Regensburg to Rosenhof will be expanded to six lanes in 2018. The A3 reaches the Gäuboden and crosses the Danube a second time shortly before Wörth . The heights of the Bavarian Forest begin directly north of the route .

After Straubing , the southernmost foothills of this mountain range are crossed for the first time and the Danube is crossed for the third time at Metten . At the following Deggendorf intersection, the A 92 ( Munich - Deggendorf ) crosses and crosses the Danube a fourth time. The Isar flows into the river directly opposite the road . After Hengersberg , the motorway leads again through the hilly southern foothills of the Bavarian Forest at some distance to the narrowing Danube valley. Shortly before reaching Passau , it crosses the Danube for the fifth and last time at Schalding on a longer bridge. Then it climbs up into the Neuburg Forest and then down into the Rottal . After Pocking , the last junction in Germany, the A3 crosses the Inn , which marks the border between Germany and Austria. The former border clearance is located directly behind the bridge on the Austrian side. From there the route continues as the Innkreisautobahn A8 to Linz .

Near Regensburg
Schalding Danube Bridge
At the federal border near Pocking / Suben

Sections as a European route

The federal motorway 3 is part of the following European roads:

E 35 : Elten – Kreuz Oberhausen border crossing
E 34 , E 35 : Kreuz Oberhausen – Kreuz Kaiserberg
E 35 : Kreuz Kaiserberg – Dreieck Dernbach
E 35 , E 44 : Dreieck Dernbach – AS Limburg-Nord
E 35 : AS Limburg-Nord – Mönchhof-Dreieck
E 42 : Mönchhof-Dreieck – Seligenstädter Dreieck
E 41 : Seligenstädter Dreieck – Dreieck Würzburg-West
E 45 : Kreuz Biebelried – Kreuz Nürnberg
E 56 : Nuremberg junction - Pocking border crossing

history

1926 to 1933 - Provincial road and Opladen bypass

In the course of the ever advancing motorization in the 1920s, demands arose to build roads that should be reserved exclusively for motorized individual traffic. From 1926, concrete plans were carried out, primarily by the HaFraBa eV association under Robert Otzen , who planned a road from Hamburg via Frankfurt to the Swiss border near Basel . A short time later, a basic network of trunk roads was worked out that contained many connections that were implemented later, including the route of today's BAB 3 from the Ruhr area via Cologne and Frankfurt to Nuremberg . A later plan from 1930 envisaged a connection from the Dutch border via the Ruhr area and Cologne to Frankfurt.

In the Prussian Rhine Province in particular , motorization went very quickly, with the result that traffic on the often much too narrow and unpaved roads increased rapidly. As a rule, motor vehicles had to share the lane with pedestrians and horse-drawn vehicles. In March 1926, the Rhenish provincial parliament decided to build a provincial road between Cologne and Düsseldorf . This should consist of cross-free bypass roads with a lane width of twelve meters and, if necessary, be extended to the north. The route was determined in 1929.

Although an intersection-free road reserved for car traffic was actually built between Cologne and Bonn as early as 1929 and opened in 1932 under the name intersection-free Kraftfahr-Straße , this project was mainly initiated by the then Mayor of Cologne and later Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer . This makes it the first autobahn in Germany and was later also used under this name.

Construction of the Provincial Road could not begin until March 1931, after unresolved financing and the ensuing disputes as to whether a toll should be levied for using this road delayed the start of construction for a long time. Even during the construction phase, building could only be continued slowly due to the onset of the financial crisis. A first, 2.8 km long section of the Provinzialstraße near Opladen was completed on September 27, 1933. This had already been extended to suit the motorway, it had four lanes (two in each direction of travel), which were separated from each other by the different brightness of the road surface. Unlike the Cologne – Bonn connection, which was completed a year earlier, it was not opened by Konrad Adenauer, as Konrad Adenauer was relieved of his offices shortly after the National Socialists came to power. Instead, the celebrations were led by the civil engineer and NSDAP politician Fritz Todt , who had recently been appointed General Inspector for German Roads . A continuation towards the south over the Mülheimer bridge to the Cologne – Bonn road was considered, but was no longer implemented.

1934 to 1945 - Reichsautobahn construction

Although the NSDAP had strictly rejected the HaFraBa plans at the time of the Weimar Republic and they u. A. insulted them as "luxury roads of the rich", the construction of the expressways, now known as the Reichsautobahn , was seen as a means to curb the high unemployment at the time. For this purpose, the HaFraBa association was changed to GEZUVOR (“Society for the preparation of the Reichsautobahn eV”) and the plans from the Weimar Republic were adopted. On September 23, 1933 - just four days before the Provinzialstrasse near Opladen was completed - Adolf Hitler broke ground on the Reichsautobahn Frankfurt – Mannheim, which was originally a core part of HaFraBa planning.

Cologne – Düsseldorf

The entire route Netherlands – Ruhr area – Cologne – Frankfurt – Nuremberg – Passau was also listed in the planned provisional network of the Reichsautobahn from December 1933. The first section began on November 1, 1933, with the Cologne – Düsseldorf route. This route, called Reichsautobahnlinie 5 , was opened to traffic on May 21, 1936. Since the Provincial Road, opened in 1933, could no longer be used due to wider lanes and higher design speeds, a different route was chosen south of the new Opladen junction and the motorway was built south of what was then kilometer 9 next to the existing Provincial Road. This was therefore included in a simple bypass road, today part of the B 8 / L 288 (Bonner Straße). The northern part of the Opladen bypass, however, was built over by the motorway route.

While the northern end of this section was at the height of today's Hilden motorway junction to the southeast and far outside of the Düsseldorf city area, problems arose for the extension leading south to Cologne-Mülheim in guiding the motorway through the densely populated urban area in the east of Cologne. Therefore, construction did not begin here until January 3, 1934. On this seven-kilometer section from Opladen to Mülheim (then Cologne-North ), 20 bridges had to be built. Today's Leverkusen motorway junction was also planned, initially as a roundabout , later it was designed as a clover leaf during the construction of today's BAB 1 (then known as the Ruhr tangent ).

Düsseldorf – Oberhausen

The northern continuation from Düsseldorf through the western Ruhr area to Oberhausen was built in three sections from 1934. First of all, the 17 km long section from Oberhausen-Lirich (then Duisburg-Meiderich ) and Ratingen- Breitscheid (today Autobahnkreuz Breitscheid ) was completed in 1936, the section from Breitscheid to today's Autobahnkreuz Oberhausen and the gap between Düsseldorf / Hilden and Breitscheid in 1937.

The line, which was subsequently continued from Oberhausen on the northern edge of the Ruhr area towards Hanover / Berlin , now forms the BAB 2 . Together with the Ruhr tangent between Leverkusen and Kamen near Dortmund (today's BAB 1), which began at the time, a motorway ring was built around the central Ruhr area by the early 1960s. A motorway triangle was planned near Oberhausen, where a Reich motorway line was to branch off to the Dutch border ( Holland line ).

Cologne – Frankfurt

HaFraBa plans to connect the two cities with a 134 km Cologne – Gießen motorway, with a route via Siegburg , Altenkirchen and Driedorf near Wetzlar , where it should join the main Hamburg – Frankfurt – Basel route at a motorway triangle. This planning was not taken over by the National Socialists, instead a route from Siegburg via Limburg to Wiesbaden was executed, which was to cross the Reichsautobahn Frankfurt-Mannheim south of Frankfurt.

From 1934 onwards, the Reichsautobahnen Directorate had the southern route built both from Cologne to the south and from Wiesbaden to the north. The 30 km section between Cologne-Mülheim and Siegburg was opened to traffic on December 17, 1937 after around three years of construction. The most striking structure in this section is the 350 m long Victory Bridge, veneered with Grauwacke and designed as an arch bridge. A motorway service station was also built near Siegburg, the third in all in Germany.

A year later, on December 15, 1938, the 12 km section to the Siebengebirge junction followed and on September 20, 1939 another 30 km to Dierdorf followed . In this section the route already shows steep inclines and declines in order to manage the height difference from the Cologne Bay up into the Westerwald . The section between the Wiesbaden junction at that time, today's Wiesbadener Kreuz , and the Limburg -Nord junction with a length of 48 km was opened to traffic on September 23, 1939. The most complex structure in this section was the Lahntal Bridge , which was around 500 m long and 60 m high at the time .

The 41.5 km long gap between Limburg and Dierdorf was closed on June 15, 1940, making the motorway from Oberhausen to Wiesbaden continuously passable. The continuation from Oberhausen to Berlin was also largely completed.

Construction between Wiesbaden and Frankfurt began in 1938, but due to the Second World War , construction work on the route could not be continued and was therefore finally stopped on October 20, 1941. Clearing has already been carried out on the entire section, and the planned motorway junction with the Reichsautobahn Frankfurt-Mannheim was provisionally laid out from 1939 to 1941 on the northeastern edge of Frankfurt Airport. A motorway junction at this point was already provided for in HaFraBa plans from 1933, as a branch from the main route to Wiesbaden was planned.

Emmerich-Oberhausen

The Reichsautobahn from Oberhausen to the Dutch border at Emmerich, the so-called Hollandlinie (Reichsautobahnlinie 92) was planned from 1936. Despite difficulties in finding the route in the area of Dinslaken / Oberhausen due to the expanding industry, construction could begin in 1939 between Oberhausen and Wesel . Due to the Second World War, however, the construction work had to be stopped again in October of the same year. From 1940 to 1942 construction took place again, this time the route from Wesel to Emmerich began. In March 1942 the construction work was then continued to a limited extent and stopped entirely in May 1942.

The construction work carried out was essentially limited to clearing the construction site and around a third of all earthworks, and work was also started on 29 structures. Construction work only resumed in the 1950s after the Second World War.

Frankfurt – Nuremberg

The 232 km long route between the Frankfurter Kreuz and the Nürnberg Kreuz has already been built in sections, but was no longer completed due to the Second World War. Only the section from Erlangen-Tennenlohe to the Nuremberg motorway junction was completed in 1941 for the most part in a single lane. The route between Wiesbaden and Aschaffenburg has been cleared and some structures have already begun. The remainder of the route after the Second World War was largely implemented in the 1950s on a modified route.

Nuremberg – Passau

The long-distance connection Nuremberg-Regensburg-Passau-Austrian border, which appeared in plans as early as 1926, was also tackled in the 1930s. On January 22, 1937, the Reichsautobahndirektion Berlin commissioned the Supreme Construction Management of Nuremberg and Munich to begin planning the motorway. From the beginning it was intended as a continuation of the route coming from Frankfurt and which had already been completed as a single-lane route north of Nuremberg in 1941, so the junction with the Berlin – Munich motorway was designed as a motorway junction from the start. The section Nuremberg – Regensburg was run as Reichsautobahnlinie 86, Regensburg – Passau as Reichsautobahnlinie 87.

During the planning and construction work, the autobahn is also known as the Nibelungen autobahn , as it should run parallel to the Danube between Regensburg and Passau . The chosen route initially led to the heights of the Franconian Alb and turned at Kastl from east to south-east towards Oberpfraundorf . Between the valleys of the Schwarzen Laber to the west and the Naab to the east, the autobahn should then cross the Danube at Sinzing and reach the Regensburg urban area, which is to be bypassed in the south. Here the flat plain of the Danube should be reached and the river should be crossed for the second time at Kiefenholz, west of Wörth . After Straubing the heights of the Bavarian Forest should be reached and Deggendorf should be bypassed to the north. Shortly before Passau , the route should then cross the Danube again and be led in the southern part of the city to the Austrian border on the Inn .

From 1939, the line was actually built. First of all, earthworks took place between Nuremberg and Kastl in the area of the Albaufstieges near Entenberg and Poppberg on an approx. 30 km long stretch. Later construction was also carried out between Regensburg and Wörth and north of Deggendorf. The construction of the Danube bridge near Sinzing has also started. Because of the Second World War, construction work had to be stopped everywhere. The route was implemented in the 1960s and 1970s on a largely modified route. A 12.5-kilometer section of the route started at that time as route 86 was implemented as the A 6 from Nuremberg to Waidhaus. This is the section from Eismannsberg to Poppberg. While the A 6 continues eastward there, route 86 would have swiveled south after the bridge.

1950 to 1984

Emmerich-Oberhausen

Play media file

Dutch cinema news about the construction of the cross-border motorway connection between Zevenaar and Elten in 1962

Border crossing Elten / Bergh Autoweg 1965

The continuation of the Holland line, which began before the Second World War, from the Dutch border near Emmerich to Oberhausen was demanded in 1950/51 by the Ruhr Coal District Association and the Duisburg and Essen Chambers of Commerce and Industry in a joint memorandum to prevent through traffic, for example from the city of Wesel out to relocate. The completion of this motorway section was carried out by the federal government in the ten-year plan in 1953 as urgency level 1 , but due to financial considerations, the planning for this was postponed a year later, in 1954.

A memorandum from the chambers of industry and commerce in Arnhem, Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Bochum, Dortmund, Duisburg, Düsseldorf and Essen referred to the pre-war plans to build a European trunk road between the North Sea ports and the Ruhr area. On the Dutch side, the first sections of today's A12 near The Hague were opened in the 1930s . This route was designed to form a connection to the German motorway network. Even the Economic Commission of the UN classified this compound as a main route in the European road network, and instructed them in the Declaration on the Construction of Main International Traffic Arteries that the network of European routes established, with the number of E 36.

The fact that the Holland Line was not taken into account in the allocation of funds by the Transport Finance Act 1955 led to protests from the districts on the Lower Rhine, which still considered this route to be important. The plans for the further construction of the line were then resumed in 1956 when a new motorway construction office was set up in Wesel. Due to numerous delays in the planning approval on the part of the federal government, the construction of the almost 18 km long route between Wesel and Oberhausen could not begin until June 1, 1958. It was even possible to find old land acquisition files from 1939 to 1942 and, based on them, to conduct negotiations with the landowners.

An originally planned interruption in construction from 1960 onwards led to loud protests from neighboring cities, districts and business associations. The commitment of the North Rhine-Westphalian state government through objections to the responsible government and administrative authorities led to the release of all funds for construction financing. The Wesel – Oberhausen section was thus opened to traffic on July 10, 1961 by Federal Transport Minister Hans-Christoph Seebohm . Although the clearance took place a year later than planned, the Dinslaken-Süd junction and the Hünxe service area were not yet completed at this time.

In contrast to the originally planned route, the route did not finally end at the Cologne – Berlin motorway, but was to be extended further south into the Oberhausen city area. Instead of a motorway triangle, a motorway junction with a cloverleaf shape was built at the intersection with the pre-war route. The motorway cross-section has been widened from the 26.5 m with which the route was built before the Second World War to 30 m, including a 4 m wide median and a 2.5 m wide hard shoulder on both lanes.

Together with the Dutch government, the further construction of the Dutch A12 in an easterly direction to the German border has already been pushed ahead, followed by a 7 km long section on the German side from the border crossing at Elten to the Emmerich junction . Although the area around Elten was under Dutch administration until 1963 after the Second World War and the construction was therefore carried out by the Dutch road construction administration ( Rijkswaterstaat Directie Wegen, Afdeling Utrecht ), albeit in close cooperation with the Wesel motorway construction department, the one chosen here German expansion cross-section. The construction was therefore carried out under the direction of both Dutch and German road construction companies. On April 20, 1962, the section from the Elten border crossing to the Emmerich junction was ceremoniously opened to traffic in the presence of the Dutch Minister van Verkeer en Waterstaat Henk Korthals and the Minister for State Planning, Housing and Public Works of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia Peter Erkens .

The border crossing with customs office (Dutch name Bergh Autoweg ) built near Elten was the first motorway border crossing in Europe to be built after the Second World War and for a long time also the largest. Until the Elten area was returned to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Elten junction was cordoned off with concrete blocks to prevent access to Dutch territory without passing through customs.

The gap between Emmerich and Wesel was closed in two sections. On December 17, 1963 the Hamminkeln – Wesel section and on April 27, 1965 the last section between Emmerich and Hamminkeln was opened. With this, the motorway stretch from the Ruhr area to The Hague was completed. The Oberhausen connection south of the Oberhausener Kreuz was opened to traffic on July 18, 1963. Compared to the routing begun before the war, to which reference was essentially made, the curves are more extensive and long straights have been avoided. In addition to the six planned connection points, three additional ones were built in the southern area in order to establish connections to industrial companies.

Frankfurt – Nuremberg

After the Second World War, planning for the motorway route between Frankfurt and Nuremberg began again in 1948. With the establishment of the Federal Republic in 1949 and the associated changes in the administrative boundaries, the areas of the former Supreme Construction Management were redistributed. Most of the route planning on the Reichsautobahntrasse could therefore no longer be taken over. In 1953, the route was determined between Frankfurt and Würzburg under the direction of Transport Minister Hans-Christoph Seebohm, which was already under construction in the western part between Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg so far that it was possible to continue on the old route. In this area, construction work was therefore resumed in May 1955. The route for the Würzburg – Nuremberg section followed on July 18, 1957.

While a 3.5 km long section south-east from Wiesbaden to Weilbach, which was no longer completed before the Second World War, was opened to traffic as early as 1950, the subsequent section to Frankfurt Airport was on the pre-war road with the now completed Main crossing Raunheim opened in 1953. In the same year, the construction work for the motorway junction with the Hamburg-Basel motorway, which was also discontinued during the war, was resumed, so that after three years of construction on July 10, 1956 the junction, now known as the Frankfurter Kreuz , including the continuation over the cross to the junction Frankfurt-Süd was opened to traffic. It was the first completed motorway junction in West Germany, before the Kamener Kreuz near Dortmund , which was a little later completely passable . The clover-leaf shape, based on the Schkeuditz cross as a model before the war , was adopted unchanged, especially since the construction of the central bridge structure had already begun.

This section had priority in the reconstruction on the one hand because the traffic growth on the pre-war routes almost quadrupled from 1936 to 1953 and on the other hand because Frankfurt Airport was reopened for civil aviation in 1951. At the time, this section was the largest road construction project in the young Federal Republic.

Between Frankfurt and Aschaffenburg, the autobahn was gradually opened from 1957 to 1959 on the route prepared before the war. A striking structure in this section is the Stockstadt Main Bridge, completed in 1958, just behind the Hessian-Bavarian border.

From Aschaffenburg via Würzburg to Nuremberg, where a single-lane motorway section was already under traffic before the war, the Reichsautobahn plans were no longer taken into account and the motorway was planned on a completely new route. The civil engineer Hans Lorenz , chairman of the North Bavarian autobahn directorate since 1950 , was in charge of the development of new guidelines for routing as well as for ecology and structures along the route. As these two low mountain ranges ( Spessart and Steigerwald ) crossed, curves and inclines had to be accepted. Lorenz developed a route that included a combination of many wide and a few narrow curves with a low bank angle. Long straights, which were typical for the Reichsautobahn, were avoided.

In order to allow adaptation to the surrounding landscape, the median was widened in some places and the lanes were moved to different heights when climbing. This motorway section was also one of the first to be provided with hard shoulder throughout. Of the 357 structures on the 214 km long new line, many were already designed for a possible six-lane expansion. Four rest areas on both sides with gas stations and 108 parking spaces (54 in the direction of Nuremberg, 64 in the direction of Frankfurt), eleven of which had a fountain between Aschaffenburg and Würzburg, were also created.

The motorway was built and completed in sections within nine years. The up to four percent steep ascent of the Spessart between Aschaffenburg and Rohrbrunn was opened on December 15, 1959, in the same year the already existing section from the Nuremberg junction to Tennenlohe was supplemented by a second carriageway. On October 27, 1961, the motorway continued to Helmstadt just before Würzburg. The last, 42 km long section between Rottendorf and Schlüsselfeld was opened to traffic on November 26, 1964. 21 workers were killed during construction.

Since the Frankfurt – Nuremberg autobahn was the first in Germany to be routed and executed according to modern criteria, it formed the basis for the numerous routes built up into the 1970s. Among these is the A 45 , which was built in the 1960s as the very first completely new motorway - without existing plans from the time before the Second World War.

Nuremberg – Passau

Between Nuremberg and Regensburg, planning for the motorway was resumed in 1958. Since the Hohenfels military training area, which was laid out in the late 1930s, was greatly expanded by the US Army in 1951 and the planned route led through this area, a new route had to be chosen. The south-westerly running route leads from the connection to the Berlin – Munich motorway via Altdorf , Neumarkt and Parsberg . At the level of Oberpfraundorf it meets the already prepared route from before the Second World War. This was largely retained in the further course to Regensburg due to the earthworks that had already started, but implemented with less steep longitudinal inclines and softer gradients according to the new knowledge in road construction.

The 25.5 km long section between Nittendorf and Rosenhof east of Regensburg, which runs on the old route, was built from 1961 to 1965. To cross the Danube near Sinzing , the pillars built in 1938 and the foundations on the eastern Danube side were used to complete the planned Danube bridge at the same location . On the eastern bank of the Danube, the bridge therefore has three individual pillars from this period, the remaining pillars are double pillars. Between Parsberg and Nittendorf, the 25 km long, partly new route was completed in 1969. The gap between Nuremberg and Regensburg was closed in stages by 1971 (completion Neumarkt – Parsberg). This meant that the motorway from the Dutch border to Rosenhof was continuously under traffic.

The earthworks started east of Nuremberg for this route were used from the 1960s to build the Nuremberg– Amberg motorway . A motorway junction was therefore created near Altdorf, where this route, as a continuation of the motorway coming from Heilbronn (later BAB 6 ), crosses with the Nuremberg – Regensburg motorway.

Just like between Nuremberg and Regensburg, earthworks were in progress on individual sections between Regensburg and Passau. The plans for completion were resumed and revised in 1965. In order to ensure a better infrastructural connection of the Bavarian Forest region in addition to the management of the extensive traffic, it was decided to route the motorway north of the Danube. About half of the route planned before the war could be maintained with the adjustment of the gradient.

Between Rosenhof and Straubing, the planned route was relocated to the south on the edge of the Danube plain to avoid steep inclines and declines. The originally planned northern bypass of Deggendorf with gradients of up to 6% and height differences of over 300 m was completely abandoned and instead the motorway was relocated to the southern edge of the city. It therefore leads for a few kilometers on the southern side of the Danube, which is why two larger bridges had to be built. Despite the two river crossings, the construction of this variant turned out to be far more cost-effective than the pre-war road. The old route through the southern foothills of the Bavarian Forest was essentially retained between Deggendorf and Passau.

According to the pre-war plans, the motorway border crossing to Austria was to be built in the southern urban area of Passau. Since the area was largely settled after the Second World War, a completely new route to the Austrian border had to be found. Together with the Republic of Austria, a route was developed through the Neuburg Forest and the Inn crossing with a border crossing at Pocking . In this area, with the descent from the Neuburg Forest, there is also the strongest longitudinal incline of the entire section with 3.5%.

Two autobahn maintenance offices were established near Kirchroth and Passau. In addition to numerous parking spaces, the two rest areas, Bavarian Forest and Danube Valley, were also built . Construction between Deggendorf and Passau began in 1968, and sections of the motorway from Deggendorf to the east were released in 1975 by 20 km to Iggensbach , in 1978 by 21 km to Passau-Nord and in 1979 by 9 km to Passau-Süd. In this area, the Schalding Danube Bridge is the last Danube bridge on the motorway before the Austrian border.

On January 1, 1975, a uniform numbering system was introduced for all federal motorways in Germany. Initially only internal numbering was available for the routes that had already been built and was not shown on the signposts (initially only the numbers of the European roads were shown here), but from now on the new motorway numbers were used throughout. As an important, transnational connection between the Netherlands and Austria, the Holland line Emmerich – Oberhausen received together with the Oberhausen – Cologne – Frankfurt autobahn built in the 1930s, the Frankfurt – Nuremberg line built in the 1950s and 1960s and the Frankfurt – Nuremberg line at that time The route Regensburg – Passau – Pocking currently under construction is called Bundesautobahn 3 (BAB 3 or A 3).

The section from Passau-Süd to the border to Austria was opened in 1983 together with the continuation on the Austrian side ( Innkreisautobahn A8 ) to Suben . The border crossing point was on the Austrian side, i. H. east of the Inn. The continuation of the A8 to Linz was completed in several stages from 1982 to 1990.

The missing section between Rosenhof and Deggendorf was only started in the 1970s. In 1980 the A 3 from Rosenhof was extended by 9 km to Wörth an der Donau, whereby another Danube crossing was created ( Danube bridge Wörth ). In 1981, 20 km to Straubing were added, the gap to Deggendorf was opened in 1984. Thus, the motorway route was completely finished and continuously passable.

List of traffic clearances

section	year	km
Dutch border – Emmerich	1962	7 km
Emmerich – Hamminkeln	1965	28 km
Hamminkeln – Wesel	1963	14 km
Wesel-Kreuz Oberhausen	1961	18 km
Cross Oberhausen – Kreuz Breitscheid	1936	36 km
Breitscheid – Düsseldorf-Süd junction (Mettmann)	1937	11 km
Düsseldorf-South – Cologne-North (Mülheim)	1936	33 km
Cologne-North-Siegburg	1937	30 km
Siegburg – Siebengebirge	1938	12 km
Siebengebirge – Dierdorf	1939	30 km
Dierdorf – Limburg-Nord	1940	42 km
Limburg-Nord – Wiesbadener Kreuz	1939	48 km
Wiesbaden Cross - prov. Connection Weilbach	1951	4 km
prov. connection Weilbach – Frankfurt-Süd	1956	17 km
Frankfurt-Süd – Offenbacher Kreuz	1957	6 km
Offenbacher Kreuz – Hanau	1958	12 km
Hanau-Stockstadt	1959	15 km
Stockstadt – Hösbach	1958	10 km
Hösbach – Rohrbrunn	1959	18 km
Rohrbrunn – Helmstadt	1961	36 km
Helmstadt-Rottendorf	1963	25 km
Rottendorf – Schlüsselfeld	1964	42 km
Schlüsselfeld – Höchstadt-Ost	1963	18 km
Höchstadt-Ost – Tennenlohe	1962	24 km
Tennenlohe-Kreuz Nürnberg	1941	18 km
Cross Nuremberg-Altdorf / Burgthann	1970	12 km
Altdorf / Burgthann – Neumarkt		16 km
Neumarkt – Parsberg	1971	28 km
Parsberg – Nittendorf	1969	25 km
Nittendorf – Rosenhof	1965	25 km
Rosenhof – Wörth on the Danube	1980	9 km
Wörth on the Danube – Straubing	1981	20 km
Straubing – Kreuz Deggendorf	1984	28 km
Cross Deggendorf – Iggensbach	1975	20 km
Iggensbach – Passau-North	1978	21 km
Passau North – Passau South	1979	9 km
Passau-South-Austrian border	1983	16 km

Reorganization and renaming

1992

In 1992, as a result of German reunification, some restructuring of the German motorway network took place. Among other things, the junction points were given consecutive numbering, which meant that some motorway sections had to be rearranged with double numbering in order to avoid analogous double numbering of the junction points in these areas. The A 2 began on the Dutch border near Herongen until 1992 and was carried along the A 3 route between the Kaiserberg and Oberhausen motorway junctions. After the introduction of junction numbering, the beginning of the A 2 was placed at the Oberhausen junction, the section from Herongen to Kaiserberg was renumbered together with the former A 430 as the A 40 .

Around the same time the connection points on this section renamed (were Duisburg-Hamborn in Oberhausen-Holten , junction Duisburg / Oberhausen in junction Oberhausen-West , Duisburg-Meiderich in Oberhausen Lirich and interchange Duisburg-Kaiserberg in cross Kaiserberg ). The long-term destination Duisburg, which was signposted north from the Hilden junction, has been deleted.

2009

The two connection points in the Leverkusen city area were renamed in 2009. For example, AS 22 ( Leverkusen-Opladen ) was previously only called Opladen and AS 24 ( Leverkusen-Zentrum ) was only called Leverkusen . The basis for this was a decree of the North Rhine-Westphalian Ministry of Transport (so-called "large city regulation"), which states that the city name must be put in front of connections to cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants.

Traffic volume

Sections of the BAB 3 near Cologne and Frankfurt are among the busiest roads in Germany. According to a survey by the Federal Highway Research Institute (BASt) in 2015, several sections were among the top 10 routes with the highest average daily traffic volume (DTV) . The section between the Cologne-Ost motorway junction and the Cologne-Heumar motorway triangle is the busiest section of the motorway in Germany with an average of 171,200 vehicles per day, just before the Berlin city motorway A 100 .

Sections with DTV in excess of 150,000 per day

section	DTV
Cross Leverkusen - Leverkusen center	159,600
Leverkusen Center - Cologne-Mülheim	154,800
Cologne-Mülheim - Cologne-Dellbrück	158,900
Köln-Dellbrück - Kreuz Köln-Ost	166,700
Kreuz Köln-Ost - Dreieck Köln-Heumar	171,200
Frankfurt-Süd - Offenbacher Kreuz	163,400
Offenbach Cross - Obertshausen	151,900

Current state of development

Netherlands to Cologne

The motorway has four lanes from the Dutch border to the Oberhausen junction and six lanes from there to the Leverkusen junction, with only two lanes to the south being available at the Kaiserberg junction . Between Oberhausen and Leverkusen, the expansion from four to six strips was carried out in the 1980s. In addition, the hard shoulders between the Mettmann exit and the Hilden motorway junction have been expanded for temporary hard shoulder clearance.

The A3 has eight lanes between the Leverkusen motorway junction and the Cologne-Heumar motorway triangle . In this section, the A3 is also part of the Cologne motorway ring . In the triangle Köln-Heumar there are only two lanes available in both directions on the main carriageway.

In the area of the eastern Cologne ring, traffic rose sharply, not least because the ring had not yet closed - at the beginning of the 1960s, around 35,000 vehicles drove this route every day. The section between the Leverkusen junction and the Cologne-Mülheim junction was therefore expanded from four to six lanes. Construction work on what is now the first six-lane section of the motorway in Germany began on January 4, 1961 and was completed on December 15 of the same year after around 50 weeks of construction. In the course of this expansion, street lighting, which is unusual for German motorways, was installed.

Due to the high volume of traffic, the A3 has been expanded in the area of the eastern Cologne ring since the beginning of the 2000s. First of all, from October 2003 to June 2005, the most heavily loaded section between the Köln-Ost junction and the Köln-Heumar triangle was expanded from six to eight lanes. In this area, the A4 runs along a shared, 2.8 km long route. Subsequently, from May 2005 to August 2008, 2.1 km north to the Cologne-Dellbrück junction was expanded with eight lanes. From mid-2009 to July 2012, the 2.3 km long section to Cologne-Mülheim followed, and from June 2015 to May 2017, the 3.8 km to the Leverkusen-Zentrum junction. In addition, this section has been provisionally re-marked with eight lanes up to the Leverkusen junction. An eight-lane expansion is also planned between the Leverkusen center and the Leverkusen-Opladen junction, together with the renovation of the Leverkusen junction.

Cologne to Aschaffenburg

In the further course to Waldaschaff near Aschaffenburg , the motorway is largely developed with six lanes. Within the Wiesbadener Kreuz it has four lanes , from the Wiesbaden motorway junction to the Mönchhof triangle it has seven lanes (four lanes in the direction of Cologne, three in the direction of Würzburg), with the direction of Würzburg in the sorting room in front of the Mönchhof triangle also only two main lanes with two branching lanes until 2018 Direction Darmstadt were available. After a new marking there are now three main lanes. From the Mönchhof triangle via the Frankfurter Kreuz to Frankfurt-Süd, the autobahn has six lanes, from the Frankfurter Kreuz with additional, continuous interweaving stripes over the full length and from there to the Offenbacher Kreuz eight lanes.

Almost the entire section of the motorway is now equipped with at least six lanes. The six-lane expansion between Cologne and Wiesbaden was carried out as early as 1970 due to the high volume of traffic. At the same time, a speed measuring and monitoring system was installed on Elzer Berg due to the high number of accidents. The further expansion to six lanes took place between the Mönchhof triangle and the Offenbacher Kreuz in the late 1970s to 1979. Small adjustments to the Frankfurter Kreuz were also made. At the beginning of the 1980s, the section followed from Offenbacher Kreuz to the Hanau junction and from the Seligenstadt junction to the Seligenstädter Dreieck. Between the Hanau and Seligenstadt junctions, the autobahn became six-lane at the end of the 1980s, with the exception of the Hanau junction. At the beginning of the 1990s, the section between the Frankfurt-Süd junction and the Offenbacher Kreuz was expanded from six to eight lanes.

The Hanau junction was originally designed as a normal junction with four ramps and two large roundabouts, which were connected to the motorway-like B 45 ( A 683 briefly in the 1970s after construction ). While the A3 had already had six lanes to the west and east of the exits since the end of the 1980s, the right-hand lane led into the branching ramp, the main lane within the junction had only four lanes. Due to this outdated design of the busy junction, the junction was converted into a junction with height-free ramps, similar to a motorway junction, until the year 2000.

Aschaffenburg to Erlangen

The section between Aschaffenburg and the Biebelried motorway junction (near Würzburg) is almost completely expanded with six lanes with additional lanes in inclined sections. At the beginning of 2019, only the Rohrbuchbrücke , the Haseltalbrücke and the approx. 5 km long section between the Würzburg-Heidingsfeld and Würzburg / Randersacker junctions are excluded, all of which are currently being expanded. In these construction site areas, 2 lanes are available for each direction of travel. In the section between WÜ-Heidingsfeld and Würzburg / Randersacker there are 3 lanes in the direction of Frankfurt.

The section between the two Biebelried ( A 7 ) motorway junctions and the Fürth / Erlangen ( A 73 ) junction is almost entirely built with four lanes. This does not apply to a 4.9-kilometer section near Geiselwind, which has six lanes, and the last 3 kilometers in the direction of Frankfurt before the Biebelried motorway junction. There are also 3 lanes available in the uphill section between the Main Bridge Dettelbach and the motorway junction.

Erlangen to Austria

There are again six lanes continuously available between the Fürth / Erlangen junction and the Nuremberg junction. Here the motorway was expanded from four to six lanes in the late 1970s. To the east of the Nuremberg junction, on the other hand, the motorway has only four lanes to the federal border. In October 2017, however, the six-lane expansion of the section from AK Regensburg to AS Rosenhof began.

Planning / construction

Expansion in North Rhine-Westphalia

The Oberhausen motorway junction is to be rebuilt. The final version has not yet been determined (June 2019). In the traffic route plan 2030, the measure is classified as an ongoing and permanently planned project with an urgent need (removal of bottlenecks).

The Kaiserberg motorway junction is also to be rebuilt. The preliminary draft for this measure has been drawn up and submitted for approval. Approval is expected around the end of the second quarter of 2019. The plan approval procedure is planned to be initiated in 2019, so that construction work could probably begin in 2022.

Between the Ratingen-Ost motorway junction and the Mettman exit, the hard shoulder is currently being expanded for an optional hard shoulder release so that four lanes can then be used temporarily.

The Hilden motorway junction is also to be rebuilt. Details are not yet known (June 2019). As a first measure, however, the central bridge structure of the A3 is currently being replaced over the A46.

The approximately 15 km long section between the Hilden motorway junction and the Leverkusen-Opladen exit is to be expanded to include eight lanes. The first consultations at the administrative level have taken place since May 2019. In the case of the A3 between Leverkusen and Hilden, the expansion of the section has been included in the currently valid Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030. The need for expansion was determined by law as a measure of urgent need with the elimination of bottlenecks (highest classification category). It is already evident that the expansion is very controversial among the neighboring communities and environmental protection associations.

The eastern Cologne motorway ring is to be expanded with eight lanes over a length of around fourteen kilometers between the Leverkusen junction and the Cologne-Heumar triangle. The line between Dreieck Heumar and Kreuz Köln-Ost was expanded between 2003 and 2005. The following section up to the Cologne-Dellbrück junction was completed in 2008 and the next section to the Cologne-Mülheim junction in 2012. As a matter of priority, however, the central structure at the Leverkusen motorway junction is being strengthened, as it can no longer cope with the loads.

The further expansion up to the Leverkusen junction is in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan (BVWP) with the status of urgent need . From the investment framework plan for the years 2011 to 2015 of the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development , the view emerged that the planning for the renovation of the AK Leverkusen and the expansion between the junction Leverkusen-Zentrum and Cologne-Mülheim should be given priority to start construction by 2015. The planning approval decision for the eight-lane expansion in the Cologne-Mülheim section to AS Leverkusen-Zentrum had been available since the end of January 2012. The eight-lane expansion between AS Köln-Mülheim and AS Leverkusen has been open to traffic for both directions since June 2, 2017.The expansion between AK Leverkusen and AS Leverkusen-Zentrum is seen as another important project with a realization after 2015. This further expansion of the A3 is also in direct functional connection with the expansion / conversion of the A1 between the Leverkusen Rhine bridge and the Leverkusen motorway junction and should therefore probably be implemented together.

The Heumar triangle must also be converted and expanded. The first work (demolition of the bridge over the B8) began in 2019; the overall measure is expected to be completed in 2029. DEGES is responsible for the renovation and expansion .

In the BVWP 2030, an eight-lane expansion of the sections between Dreieck Heumar and AS Königsforst, as well as between the crosses Leverkusen and Oberhausen , was also classified as urgent , as was the conversion of the Oberhausen, Kaiserberg and Hilden motorway junctions. The north adjacent four-lane section to Dinslaken-Nord should also urgently be expanded to six lanes.

Eight-lane expansion near Limburg

Route of the A3 in Limburg

In the course of the new construction of the Limburg Lahntal Bridge , the motorway route between kilometers 107 and 110 was moved slightly to the east and expanded from six (without hard shoulder) to eight strips (plus hard shoulder) with additional noise barriers. This section of the route between the Limburg-Nord and Limburg-Süd junctions takes up a lot of inner-city traffic. The official groundbreaking ceremony was in June 2013 and the work was completed in 2017. An eight-lane expansion of the subsequent section to the Wiesbadener Kreuz was classified as additional demand in the BVWP 2030 .

Eight-lane expansion near Frankfurt

In urgent need , an expansion of the Wiesbaden and Offenbach cross is planned. Between the Wiesbadener Kreuz and the Frankfurter Kreuz as well as from Offenbach to Hanau , an eight-lane expansion is planned for urgent needs . For the section between Mönchhof triangle and the airport junction (in the western part of the Frankfurter Kreuz), the planning approval procedure began in spring 2009. The already eight-lane section between Frankfurter Kreuz and Offenbacher Kreuz is to be expanded to ten lanes. This expansion was classified under the additional requirement with planning rights .

Six-lane expansion from Aschaffenburg to Biebelried

With the status of urgent need , the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 envisages expanding the motorway from Aschaffenburg via the Spessart and Mainfranken to the Biebelried motorway junction with six lanes. All sections that have not yet been implemented have been included as priority measures in the investment framework plan for the years 2011 to 2015 of the Federal Ministry for Transport, Building and Urban Development.

The 19 km long western sub-section from the junction Aschaffenburg up to and including Kauppenbrücke was expanded to six lanes between 2001 and 2011. In 2016, the North Bavarian Motorway Directorate stated construction costs of 580 million euros. From the height of Keilberg, the route with the Kauppenbrücke was relocated away from Waldaschaff towards the south for reasons of noise protection .

The 30 km long middle subsection, for which the Autobahn Directorate North Bavaria stated construction costs of 287 million euros in 2016, is located between the Kauppenbrücke and the Mainbrücke Bettingen. The 7.7 km long route to the Rohrbrunn junction has been expanded since April 2013 and opened to traffic on November 17, 2015. In the direction of Würzburg , an additional fourth lane was built in the slope area of the Spessart ascent. The approximately five-kilometer stretch between the Rohrbrunn junction and the Haseltal bridge (including the expansion of the Spessart Süd tank and service station) has been under construction since 2016. The construction period should be around four years and be completed in 2018. The connection point is relocated from the T + R Spessart. Between 2007 and May 2012, the new construction of the Haseltalbrücke bridge was erected and, in addition, 1.2 km long sections of the neighboring planning sections were expanded on both sides of the bridge. The planning approval decision for the next approximately six kilometer long section to the west of Marktheidenfeld has been in place since July 2008. The expansion began in 2016 and is expected to take four years, i.e. to be completed in mid-2020. The planning approval decision for the 9.7 km long section to the Main had been available since October 2008; the expansion began in 2014 and was completed in 2017. The adjoining Main Bridge Bettingen was completed in advance in 2001 after three and a half years of construction. However, until the 6-lane completion of the adjoining sections (2017), the bridge was temporarily only accessible with four lanes.

The 45 km long eastern subsection, for which the North Bavarian Motorway Directorate stated construction costs of 574 million euros in 2016, is located between the Bettingen Main Bridge and the Biebelried motorway junction. It consisted of seven planning parts. The first comprised a 6.5 km long section that began east of the Main Bridge in Bettingen and was located in Baden-Württemberg . After the planning approval decision in 2007, construction work began in 2014 and was completed at the end of 2017. An eleven-kilometer section beginning two kilometers after the state border to the Würzburg-West motorway triangle was expanded between June 2009 and December 2011. The 8.0 km long section up to the Würzburg- Heidingsfeld junction was expanded from mid-2007 to December 2009. In the direction of Frankfurt there is a 2.0 km long fourth lane in the uphill section.

The most complex section is between the Würzburg-Heidingsfeld and Würzburg / Randersacker junctions and is 5.4 km long. In May 2008, following contradictions by the city of Würzburg, a new plan approval procedure was initiated, which was concluded with the plan approval decision of December 17, 2009. The Heidingsfeld viaduct is then to be lowered and the Heuchelhof district to be crossed with the Katzenberg tunnel. A construction period of around five and a half years is expected. A lawsuit was filed against the decision, which the Federal Administrative Court dismissed in a judgment of March 3, 2011. The preparatory work began in September 2012, the construction work in July 2014. By December 2017, the first construction phase, consisting of the northern carriageway, which will later be in the direction of Frankfurt, should be completed. The existing bridge will then be demolished and the second construction phase will begin. Completion with the release of both lanes was targeted for the end of 2019; due to construction delays, autumn 2021 is now specified. The subsequent 2.0 km long section with the construction of the Main Bridge Randersacker and the expansion of the Randersacker junction was started in 2007 and completed in July 2011. The six-lane traffic opening took place together with the section adjacent to the east. The last part of the route expansion is 9.7 km long and ends at the Biebelried motorway junction. From June 2007 to December 2009, the early, partial renovation of the Rottendorf junction was carried out. Construction began for the actual expansion in autumn 2009. The first section to the Rottendorf junction has been expanded since March 2012. Since then, four lanes have been usable in the uphill area on the Nuremberg carriageway. The construction work for the second section from the Rottendorf junction to the Biebelried motorway junction was completed on October 12, 2012.

Construction progress

section	start of building	status	Length (km)
AS Aschaffenburg - AS Aschaffenburg-Ost	2005	completed (2009)	5.0
AS Aschaffenburg-Ost – AS Hösbach	1995	completed (2005)	6.0
AS Hösbach – Kauppenbrücke	2008	completed (2011)	7.0
Kauppenbrücke – west. AS Rohrbrunn	2013	completed (2015)	8.0
west of the Rohrbrunn – Haseltalbrücke junction	2016	completed (2018) ¹	5.0
Haseltalbrücke – west. AS Marktheidenfeld	2016	completed (2019)	8.0
western AS Marktheidenfeld - state border BY / BW	2016	completed (2017)	7.0
State border BY / BW – west. AS Helmstadt	2014	completed (2017)	8.0
west AS Helmstadt - AD Würzburg-West	2009	completed (2011)	11.0
AD Würzburg-West – AS Würzburg-Heidingsfeld	2007	completed (2009)	8.0
AS Würzburg-Heidingsfeld - Main bridge Randersacker	2012	under construction (until 2021)	5.0
Main bridge Randersacker– Kreuz Biebelried	2007	completed (2012)	11.0

¹ Completion and approval of the route sections at the end of 2018, completion of the Rohrbuchbrücke in autumn 2019.

Six-lane expansion from Biebelried to Fürth / Erlangen

The six-lane expansion of the approx. 80 km long stretch between the Biebelried motorway junction and the Fürth / Erlangen junction is classified as an ongoing project in the new BVWP 2030 and is to be implemented via a public-private partnership (PPP). The planning took place during the term of the BVWP 2003, whereby the section west of the AS Schlüsselfeld was classified as an urgent requirement , and east of the AS Schlüsselfeld as an additional requirement with planning rights . The section between Fuchsberg and AS Geiselwind is already conventionally developed with six lanes. The complete expansion of the entire section between the two motorway junctions Biebelried and Fürth / Erlangen was originally supposed to start in mid-2019 and be completely completed by 2024; the total costs were estimated at 2.4 billion euros. Due to a lack of supply from private operators, the start of construction was postponed to spring 2020 and the planned completion to autumn 2025. During construction, there should always be 2 lanes in each direction of travel. The first preliminary work (tree clearing) began at the end of 2018.

The route is divided into ten planning sections, and building permits exist for the entire route:

In the first 2.3 km long section between the Biebelried motorway junction and the Dettelbach main bridge , the third lane in the direction of Würzburg has been under traffic since the end of 2005. The Main Bridge was rebuilt in the appropriate width and is currently marked with four lanes. The plan approval decision was issued in December 2009 for the expansion of the directional carriageway in Nuremberg.
The subsequent 12.4 km section to the west of the Wiesentheid junction was in the planning approval procedure from August 2011.
The planning approval decision for the next 7.1 km long planning section up to the Fuchsberg has been available since March 15, 2011. A construction period of three years is expected.
The plan approval decision was issued in December 2009 for the adjacent 5.3 km long section between Fuchsberg and the Geiselwind junction. Construction of this section began in spring 2016 and was completed in 2018.
For the further expansion up to the level of Aschbach (5.2 km), the planning approval decision has been available since April 2013.
For the subsequent 10.5 km to the Schlüsselfeld junction, the planning approval decision has been in place since December 18, 2013. A construction time of three years is assumed here.
For the 6.3 km between the Schlüsselfeld junction and the Höchstadt-Nord junction, the plan approval procedure was initiated in September 2014 and the plan approval decision was issued on October 16, 2015.
The planning approval procedure began in October 2014 for the subsequent 10.8 km between the Höchstadt-Nord junction and Klebheim (east of the Höchstadt-Ost junction)
The planning approval procedure was initiated in June 2014 for the 10.0 km section between Klebheim (east of the Höchstadt-Ost junction) and T + R Aurach. The planning approval decision was made on November 18, 2015.
Finally, a 9.4 km long section between T + R Aurach and the Fürth / Erlangen motorway junction. This section is divided into three subsections:
- The approx. 6 km long section between T + R Aurach and the Main-Danube Canal Bridge.
- Renewal of the Main-Danube Canal Bridge and adjustments for the six-lane expansion. Building rights existed since October 2013, the renewal began in April 2014 and was completed on December 11, 2015.
- The renovation of AK Fürth / Erlangen with extension of the main carriageway of the A3 east of the bridge over the Main-Danube Canal received construction approval in 2016, has been under construction since 2018 and should be completed in 2021. The Regnitz Bridge has already been completed, but is currently only marked with four lanes. Building law had been in place since April 2013.

Construction progress

section	start of building	status	Property developer	operator	Length (km)
AK Biebelried - Main bridge Dettelbach	2020	under construction (until 2025, completed in FR Würzburg)	Confederation / PPP	PPP	3.0
Main bridge Dettelbach – AS Wiesentheid	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	12.0
AS Wiesentheid-Fuchsberg	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	8.0
Fuchsberg – AS Geiselwind	2016	completed (2018)	Federation	PPP	5.0
AS Geiselwind – Aschbach	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	4.0
Aschbach – east. AS key field	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	11.0
east. AS Schlüsselfeld – AS Höchstadt -Nord	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	8.0
AS Höchstadt-Nord – Klebheim	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	11.0
Klebheim – TR Aurach	2020	under construction (until 2025)	PPP	PPP	8.0
TR Aurach– AK Fürth / Erlangen	2020	under construction (until 2025, under construction in the Fürth / Erlangen AK since 2018, Main-Danube canal bridge completed)	Confederation / PPP	Confederation / PPP	10.0

PPP: public-private partnership

New junctions between Nuremberg and Regensburg

It is planned to use the B 4f to connect Nuremberg Airport to the motorway ("Nordspange"). This creates a new junction on the A3.

To the east of Neumarkt in the Upper Palatinate , the new “Neumarkt-Ost” junction was opened to traffic in December 2012. This now bears the number "92b".

In March 2008, however, the Federal Ministry of Transport approved an early start of planning. The plan approval procedure was initiated on August 25, 2014. Now it is considered to expand the 120 kilometers between Regensburg and Passau completely with six lanes. The costs for this are estimated at 1.2 billion euros. In the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030, the sections between Nittendorf and Rosenhof and between Kreuz Deggendorf and Hengersberg were ultimately classified as urgent requirements , the section between Hengersberg and Aicha vorm Wald as additional requirements with planning rights . No expansion is planned for the remaining sections in 2018 due to the low benefit-cost ratio.

Between 2015 and 2018, the roadway in the Regensburg – Straubing section will be renovated.

Six-lane expansion of the Regensburg motorway junction to the Rosenhof junction

Since October 2017, the six-lane expansion has been advanced over a length of almost 15 kilometers between the Regensburg junction and the Rosenhof junction. The Autobahn Directorate South Bavaria puts the project costs at 270 million euros. In 2010, an average of around 67,000 vehicles per day were counted in the section between the Regensburg motorway junction and the Regensburg University junction. According to the traffic forecast, this number will increase to 82,000 vehicles by 2030. About half of the traffic on the motorway in this section consists of short city trips during the day.

particularities

Autobahn junction Oberhausen

The Oberhausen motorway junction was originally only planned as a motorway triangle with the connection of the Holland line to the Berlin – Cologne motorway, but was built in the 1960s as a junction with a southern extension of the A 3 to Oberhausen, today's A 516 . In order to stay on the A3, you have to leave the main direction of travel at the motorway junction and use one of the (still) single-lane connecting ramps ( TOTSO ). The Oberhausen-Holten junction was called Duisburg-Hamborn until 1992 and the Oberhausen-West motorway junction was called Duisburg / Oberhausen. Between the Oberhausen-Holten junction (11) and the Oberhausen-West motorway junction (12), an approximately 1.5 km long test track for whispered asphalt has been laid out.

Expo and zoo bridge

Zoo bridge near Duisburg

The Duisburg Zoo is located south of the Kaiserberg motorway junction on both sides of the A3 . The pedestrian bridge built in the course of the Expo 58 in Brussels (architects: Egon Eiermann and Sep Ruf ) was still used after the end of the world exhibition as a connecting piece over the A3 ( zoo bridge ) between both sides of the zoo.

With the construction of a new zoo bridge in 1997, the old bridge (now referred to as the Expo bridge ) was moved to its current location around one kilometer further south. Since the new bridge is very wide and green on both edges, the motorway is no longer visible to the zoo visitor at this point.

lighting

Motorway near Leverkusen with lighting (2012)

Motorway lighting at Frankfurt Airport

The section between Leverkusen (between AS Opladen and AK Leverkusen) and Cologne-Mülheim (south of the junction), together with a section at Frankfurt Airport, was one of the few motorway sections in Germany that was equipped with street lighting for many years . The light masts were installed in the central reservation as part of the six-lane expansion (1960-62) and were primarily used as a test arrangement for the extensive lighting of German motorways planned at the time. Single masts with double booms were installed in the northern part of the route, and a chain of lights following the course of the street in the southern part. Such lighting was also installed on the A1 between Cologne-Niehl and Leverkusen with both arrangements. Just like all connection points in this area, even the Leverkusen junction was completely illuminated with all ramps.

The mercury vapor lamps were supplied by Siemens and had an output of 250 watts each. In the area of the connection points there was no space for a light pole in the median, which is why a span across the entire width of the carriageway with attached lights was used. The plastic rope had a diameter of 12 mm and carried two lights.

Despite the installation in the Cologne / Leverkusen area, there was no area-wide motorway lighting, as the then Federal Transport Minister Georg Leber decided against it due to the high electricity and maintenance costs on the 4000 km motorway at the time. For this reason, lighting systems were later only installed on motorways that run through densely populated areas or areas with intensive lighting to avoid irritation.

At the beginning of 2010, the lights were switched off initially for testing purposes and then permanently in order to save costs; in addition, according to the subsequent reasoning, the number of accidents did not increase significantly due to the loss of lighting on other sections of the motorway (e.g. the A 555 ). As part of the eight-lane expansion of the A 3, the southern section of the lighting system was dismantled in mid-2010 as a preparatory measure. The expansion took place between Cologne-Mülheim and Cologne-Dellbrück from 2009 to 2012 and between Leverkusen-Zentrum and Cologne-Mülheim from 2015 to 2017. The light masts in the Leverkusen area were removed in mid-2016.

The section between Kelsterbach and Frankfurter Kreuz is still illuminated at night. A chain of lights was used here, which is similar to the one on the Kölner Ring. The reason for this is the surrounding facilities of the airport, which are brightly lit at night. The lighting financed by the airport operator is intended to prevent drivers from being distracted.

Double kilometer designation

The kilometer award begins on the one hand at the Dutch border, on the other hand at the triangle Heumar near Cologne to the south again, so that around 140 km are awarded twice as an award. In the event of breakdowns, it is therefore helpful to point out to the breakdown service whether you are north or south of Cologne.

Accident blackspot

Elzer Berg is known nationwide on the striking terrain from the Niederwesterwald down into the Limburg Basin . This long downhill stretch on the A3 at km 100 in the direction of Frankfurt is a hotspot for accidents, so there is a speed limit of 100 km / h there, which was monitored by two stationary speed measurement systems until 2019, and this is flanked by a ban on overtaking trucks. Until the end of April 2009 there was a limit of 40 km / h in the right-hand lane. The limit was then raised to 60 km / h and finally in November 2014 the left and middle lanes were set to 100 km / h.

Railroad and motorway

The high-speed line Cologne – Rhine / Main , which has been in operation since 2002, runs largely parallel to the A3 between Cologne and Frankfurt am Main .

Autobahn Church

The motorway church in Medenbach has existed since March 2001 . It is located between AS Niedernhausen and the Wiesbadener Kreuz on the premises of Tank & Rast Medenbach-West. The Autobahnkirche celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2011. Around 400,000 people have visited it during this time.

Eight-lane expansion

The ten-kilometer section between the Frankfurt and Offenbacher Kreuz was , along with a section of the A5 , also near Frankfurt, for a long time one of the only longer eight-lane motorway routes in Germany. In Cologne, the A3 between the Heumar motorway triangle and the Leverkusen-Zentrum junction has been expanded to eight lanes over 12 kilometers since 2017. In 2019, the concrete planning of the eight-lane expansion of a 15-kilometer section between the Hilden junction and the Leverkusen-Opladen junction began.

Approvals hard shoulder

The sections Kreuz Ratingen-Ost – Kreuz Hilden, Limburg-Nord – Diez (only Rtg. Diez), Kelsterbach – Mönchhof-Dreieck and Offenbacher Kreuz – Hanau are equipped with a system for temporary hard shoulder clearance. During peak hours, the hard shoulder can be used as a lane with the appropriate switching of the variable message signs. The relevant sections are monitored by cameras so that the hard shoulder can be closed again in a timely manner, for example in the event of a broken down vehicle.

Nuremberg motorway junction

The Nuremberg junction is designed as a TOTSO : The main lane of the A 3 from the direction of Würzburg continues as the A 9 in the direction of Munich, so that the lane has to be changed to continue on the A 3 in the direction of Regensburg. The main carriageway of the A 9 from Munich also continues as the A 3 to Frankfurt. This special shape of the cross came about because before the fall of the wall, the A9 north of Nuremberg had to deal with little traffic, as it led to the GDR behind Hof. The Munich - Frankfurt route was used most frequently at the time, which is why the two motorways were allowed to run into each other.

Long section without a rest area

The Jura service station is located between Nuremberg and Regensburg at Neumarkt (Upper Palatinate) . It is 106 km to the Bavarian Forest rest area , which is closest to the southeast , and is located between Regensburg and Deggendorf at the level of Straubing .

Temperature-dependent speed limit

In the section of the route between the Rosenhof and Garham / Vilshofen junctions, a temperature-dependent speed limit has been in effect since the summer of 2013: Due to the poor condition of the concrete roadway, which is over thirty years old, heat damage, so-called blow-ups, occurs again and again in this section of the route . At temperatures over 28 degrees, the road surface can suddenly bulge. Therefore, a speed limit of 80 km / h applies from an air temperature of 30 degrees. If the temperature is below 28 degrees without interruption for at least one day, the speed limit will be lifted again. Something similar is happening on sections of the A 5 , A 6 and A 656 in Baden-Württemberg.

Two external borders

From 1984 until the completion of the A 6 in 2008, the A 3 was the only motorway in Germany that connected two of Germany's external borders (the Netherlands and Austria) without interruption.

Execution of the roadway

In the area of responsibility of the Southern Bavaria Autobahn Directorate , the roadway was constructed with a concrete pavement with a thickness of 22 centimeters during the construction of the A3 in order to save money. This also reduced the service life from 40 to 20 years. 26 to 30 centimeters are common for highways with a high volume of heavy traffic.

Compact parking at the Jura West rest area

In 2016, the Federal Highway Research Institute put Germany's first compact parking system into operation at the Jura West rest area near Velburg . This is an attempt to increase the parking space for trucks at rest areas by means of telematic control.

Events

Accidents during bridge construction

The replacement of the Main Bridge Stockstadt was built using incremental launching. One of the three new parallel bridge structures collapsed on August 30, 1988. One person died in this accident. The causes of the collapse were errors in the structural designer's static calculation that the checking engineer did not recognize.

On February 3, 2009, an accident occurred on the Main Bridge in Randersacker , which was described as the "miracle of Würzburg". A truck came off the road in the construction site area and drove onto the half of the bridge, which was already being demolished. Parts of the carriageway had been removed across its entire width and only the concrete girders that previously supported the carriageway were still there. The truck slid over the abyss over one of these 40 cm wide girders and came to a stop on the intact stretch of road behind. The driver had to be rescued from the cab with the help of a fire service turntable ladder. The truck was equipped with a mobile crane recovered.

Blocking when the Pope visits

During the Pope's visit to Bavaria in 2006 , Günther Beckstein , then Minister of State for the Interior , approved an 18-hour blockage of Autobahn 3 on the occasion of the fair on Islinger Feld . Between midnight and 6 p.m., only believers' buses were allowed through from both directions. In addition, the central guardrails were removed so that the buses could turn and turn back.

Landslide near Wiesbaden

In the night of March 1, 2010, the roadway near the Wiesbadener Kreuz sagged as a result of a dam slide, and the noise protection wall was also affected. The exact cause is so far unknown and should be determined with a drilling.

Closed due to high water

The A 3 and A 92 in the Deggendorf area were temporarily closed due to a dam burst on June 4, 2013 in the course of the flooding in Central Europe in 2013 .

Bomb finds

From 2006 to 2008, the section between the Aschaffenburg and Aschaffenburg-Ost junctions was expanded to six lanes. A fatal accident occurred on October 23, 2006 when an aircraft bomb from World War II exploded while milling a cement-lime mixture in the new hard shoulder. A construction worker was killed, the milling machine was completely destroyed and several vehicles and nearby buildings were damaged. During a subsequent dud search in the edge areas and at greater depths, further duds were found.

During road renewal work in summer 2014, a 500 kg bomb from the Second World War was found on August 19 between the Offenbacher Kreuz and the Obertshausen junction . To defuse the A 3 between the Offenbacher Kreuz and the Obertshausen junction was completely closed in both directions. Since it was not possible to remove the detonator from the British dud, the bomb had to be blown up on site. A crater with dimensions of approx. 10 × 5 meters and a depth of around 3 meters was created. Furthermore, the track superstructure of the first lane and the hard shoulder of the directional lane rose by up to around half a meter. The road in the direction of Würzburg was completely closed until August 21st.

Responsible motorway maintenance depots

As of January 1, 2016, the responsibilities for the A3 were as follows:

Free State of Bavaria
- in the area of the Seligenstädter Dreieck motorway triangle (56) and the Marktheidenfeld junction (65) at the Hösbach motorway maintenance facility,
- in the area of the Marktheidenfeld junction (65) and the Höchstadt-Ost junction (80) at the Kist / Geiselwind motorway maintenance facility,
- in the area of the Höchstadt-Ost junction (80) and the Parsberg junction (94) at the Erlangen / Neumarkt in Upper Palatinate motorway maintenance facility,
- in the area of junction Parsberg (94) and junction Rosenhof (103) at the Pentling / Pollenried motorway maintenance facility,
- in the area of junction Rosenhof (103) and junction Hengersberg (111) at the Pankofen / Kirchroth motorway maintenance facility,
- in the area of the Iggensbach junction (112) and the Pocking junction (118) at the Passau motorway maintenance facility.

Web links

Commons : Bundesautobahn 3 - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Feasibility study for the development of the Waldteich industrial park .

↑ A3 / L284: Green bridges completed. State Office for Road Construction North Rhine-Westphalia, November 27, 2013, accessed on December 1, 2013 .

↑ A3: 50 new truck parking spaces at the new Sülztal car park between the Lohmar-Nord and Rösrath junctions. State Office for Road Construction North Rhine-Westphalia, December 16, 2019, accessed on February 25, 2020 .

↑ digital-kulturanthropologie.de

↑ Measurement of total length A 3, A 2, A 10 and A 19. Own measurement with the help of Google Maps, accessed on March 31, 2020 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c "Archive for Motorway and Street History" The development of the network of motorways and trunk roads in Germany according to contemporary maps and plans. strassengeschichte.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

^ Decree of the Prussian State Ministry of August 23, 1929 on the granting of the right of expropriation to the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province for the construction of a motor vehicle road from Cologne to Düsseldorf; published by the Official Gazette of the Düsseldorf Government, year 1929, No. 36, p. 205, on September 7, 1929 and by the Official Gazette of the Cologne Government, year 1929, No. 37, p. 155 of September 14, 1929.

↑ On the history of the Autobahn. ( Memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Working Group on Autobahn History (AGAB) eV: 80 years of the Cologne - Düsseldorf autobahn. Retrieved August 16, 2018 .

↑ Marion Hombach and Joachim Telgenbüscher: Das Märchen von der Autobahn, p. 85. (No longer available online.) In: GEO EPOCHE No. 57 - 10/12 - Germany under the swastika - Part 1. September 27, 2012, archived from the original on November 9, 2012 ; accessed on July 26, 2018 .

^ "History, Organization & Literature" → "Calendar and Events" → 1933, September at www.autobahngeschichte.de;
Topographic map from 1939 ( Memento from December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ mestischblatt 4907 (Leverkusen) from 1936, digitized on landkartenarchiv.de

^ New building in 1936. autobahn-online.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

^ New building in 1937. autobahn-online.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

^ History of the A3: Section between Cologne and Siegburg completed 80 years ago. In: Kölnische Rundschau . January 6, 2018, accessed January 6, 2018.

^ District town of Siegburg: The Federal Motorway 3. Accessed on August 16, 2018 .

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d History of the Holland Line. In: autobahn-online.de

↑ List on Autobahn-Online.de.

↑ Bridge constructions, a spring and accidents: The history of the A3. In: nordbayern.de. Retrieved on July 8, 2019 (picture gallery with partly beautiful old detailed photos of the construction of the A3).

^ Lines 86 and 87 In: webreichsautobahn.de

↑ ^a ^b History of the A3 between Nuremberg and Regensburg. In: autobahn-online.de

↑ See aerial photographs from 1943, available e.g. B. on Google Earth , on which bridge piers can be seen ( 48 ° 59 '57 "N, 12 ° 2' 22" E ).

↑ ^a ^b Key date: Inauguration of the first section of the Holland Line - How the Autobahn came to Wesel. Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

↑ The Holland Line. (PDF) Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

↑ Grensfietsen: De vergane grensglorie van Bergh Autoweg. Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

↑ Alfred and Ulrich Lindemann: 1960 - 1970. Retrieved on August 17, 2018 .

↑ ^a ^b Goethe University Frankfurt: The Frankfurter Kreuz: European hub and unknown hotspot of diversity, Srite 10. (PDF) Retrieved October 25, 2018 .

↑ Association motorway history (AGAB) eV: A3 Frankfurt - Nuremberg. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .

^ Spiegel: Road construction: Egg with music. April 25, 1962. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .

↑ The Federal Minister of Transport, the supreme building authority in the Bavarian State Ministry of Transport: Federal Motorway Frankfurt Nürnberg , Druckhaus Nürnberg 1964.

↑ List on Autobahn-Online.de.

^ History of the A3 Regensburg - Passau on Autobahn-Online.de.

↑ List on Autobahn-Online.de.

↑ List of traffic clearances

^ Report of the Federal Highway Research Institute .

↑ Rheinische Post: A3 should have eight lanes. December 17, 2016, accessed September 9, 2018 .

↑ ^a ^b Information from strassen.nrw on the temporary hard shoulder release (TSF) (accessed: June 19, 2019)

↑ www.leverkusen.com: Motorways. Retrieved August 30, 2018 .

↑ Working group Autobahn history (AGAB) eV: 80 years Cologne - Düsseldorf. Retrieved April 3, 2019 .

^ Streets.NRW .: The Cologne motorway ring. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .

↑ State government of North Rhine-Westphalia: A3 will be completed to Leverkusen in May. May 8, 2017, accessed September 6, 2018 .

↑ Elzer Berg: 100 on all tracks. (No longer available online.) Nassauische Neue Presse, November 6, 2014, archived from the original on July 7, 2018 ; accessed on September 24, 2018 .

↑ nordbeyern.de: Bridge constructions, a source and accidents: The history of the A3. Retrieved April 3, 2019 .

↑ Information from strassen.nrw: A2 / A3 / A516: Conversion and expansion of the Oberhausen motorway junction (accessed: June 19, 2019)

↑ Information from strassen.nrw: A3 / A40: Conversion of the Kaiserberg motorway junction (accessed: June 19, 2019)

↑ Information from strassen.nrw: A3 / A46: Reconstruction of the Hilden motorway junction (accessed: June 30, 2019)

↑ Press release from strassen.nrw of May 27, 2019: A3: First meeting on the planned expansion of the A3 between Leverkusen-Opladen and Kreuz Hilden

↑ strassen.nrw: A3: Expansion between Hilden and Leverkusen-Opladen

↑ Report from the newspaper Kölnische Rundschau from May 28, 2019: Eight lanes from Opladen to Hilden: Citizens run storm against A3 expansion .

↑ Press release from Straßen NRW - July 19, 2012 ( Memento from June 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

^ Press release from Straßen NRW from February 3, 2015.

↑ ^a ^b ^c BMVBS investment framework plan for the years 2011 to 2015 ( Memento from April 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.5 MB).

↑ Press release of the City of Leverkusen - January 22, 2012

↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: A3: On four lanes now also in the direction of Frankfurt . ) Landesbetrieb Straßenbau NRW , June 1, 2017 (press release).

^ Information from the State Office for Road Construction NRW on the expansion of the motorway near Leverkusen (A-bei-LEV for short). In: strassen.nrw.de , accessed on September 16, 2016.

↑ 240,000 cars every day by 2029: This woman saves Cologne's largest traffic jam In: Express . December 29, 2019, accessed December 29, 2019.

↑ A 3 / A 4 / A 59: Conversion of the Heumar motorway triangle on the DEGES website , accessed on December 29, 2019.

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ Autobahn Directorate North Bavaria: A3 Aschaffenburg - Biebelried SIX-LINE EXTENSION (status: 05/2018) .

↑ ^a ^b Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development: Half of the A 3 between Aschaffenburg and Würzburg expanded to six lanes, December 21, 2011. ( Memento of April 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 315/06 - December 20, 2006 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Dreher, Sabine: Finally free travel on the A3 near Weibersbrunn. In: Main-Echo , November 17, 2015.

↑ Pömmerl, Josef: 85 million euros pledged for A3 . In: Main-Echo , December 29, 2011.

↑ Pömmerl, Josef: Trees fall for further A3 expansion. In: Main-Echo , October 11, 2012.

^ Federal motorway A 3 Frankfurt - Nuremberg six-lane expansion between Kauppenbrücke and Rohrbrunn junction. (PDF) Autobahn Directorate North Bavaria, April 2013, accessed on July 21, 2019 .

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 382/08 - November 28, 2008 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 235/08 - August 1, 2008 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 335/08 - October 24, 2008 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

^ Standke, Steffen: Next mammoth project on the A3. In: Main-Post , June 26, 2009.

↑ Motorway Directorate North Bavaria: Federal Motorway A3 state border Baden-Württemberg / Bavaria to triangle Würzburg-West Status: 12/11 .

↑ Press release of the BMVBS: Traffic clearance for the six-lane expansion A3 between AD WÜ-West and AS WÜ-Heidingsfeld , December 7, 2009 (PDF; 21 kB).

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 009/06 - January 13, 2006 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Press release of the government of Lower Franconia PI 434/09 - December 17, 2009. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Pp. 17–19 , archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 11, 2016 .

^ Federal Administrative Court: Press Release No. 14/2011 of March 3, 2011; BVerwG 9 A 8.10 .

↑ Judgment of the BVerwG of March 3, 2011, Az. 9 A 8.11 (accessed on the BVerwG website on June 3, 2018)

↑ State Secretary, Andreas Scheuer, and State Secretary in the Bavarian State Ministry, Gerhard Eck broke ground for construction work. (No longer available online.) BMVBS, September 21, 2012, archived from the original on October 3, 2013 ; accessed on January 21, 2018 (press release).

↑ Comprehensive information on the special website A3 Expansion Würzburg of the North Bavarian autobahn directorate.

↑ Ongoing and planned construction work in 2019 in the area of the Würzburg office. (PDF) Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria, April 2019, accessed on April 4, 2019 .

↑ Motorway Directorate North Bavaria: Federal Motorway A3 Completion of the new Main Bridge Randersacker Status: 12/11 .

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 361/05 - December 30, 2005 ( Memento of December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

^ Fritz, Thomas: Free travel on the bridge from Wednesday. In: Main-Post , July 14, 2011.

^ Fritz, Thomas: Soon six lanes across the Main. In: Main-Post , July 14, 2011.

↑ Press release from ABDNB: Half-leaf clover at AS Rottendorf completed , December 8, 2009 (PDF; 23 kB).

↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: construction site information system of the BMVBS ).

↑ ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: ektion Nordbayern: Bundesautobahn A3 AS Rottendorf-AK Biebelried Status: 05/12 ).

↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: Rottendorf-Kreuz Biebelried route expanded ).

↑ Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria, leaflet six-lane expansion Aschaffenburg – Biebelried

↑ Pömmerl, Josef: A3 construction site near Rohrbrunn will not be finished until summer 2019. In: Main-Echo , August 19, 2018.

↑ Press release from the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure .

↑ Ongoing and planned construction work in 2019 in the area of the Würzburg office. (PDF) Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria, April 2019, accessed on April 4, 2019 .

↑ Ongoing and planned construction work in 2019 in the area of the Fürth office. (PDF) Autobahn Directorate North Bavaria, April 2019, accessed on April 29, 2019 .

↑ Info sheet A3 PPP project, six-lane expansion of the Biebelried interchange to the Fürth / Erlangen interchange. Retrieved April 4, 2019 .

↑ Motorway Directorate North Bavaria: A 3, availability model AK Biebelried - AK Fürth / Erlangen. (PDF) May 29, 2019, accessed June 3, 2019 .

↑ Info sheet A3 six-lane expansion between the Biebelried and Fürth / Erlangen motorway junctions. Retrieved April 4, 2019 .

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 437/09 - December 21, 2009. (PDF) (No longer available online.) Pp. 13–14 , archived from the original on March 4, 2016 ; accessed on November 11, 2016 .

↑ Introduction to the planning approval procedure of the government of Lower Franconia PI297 / 11 - August 11, 2011 ( Memento of September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 092/11 - March 15, 2011 ( Memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Explanatory report on the planning approval - October 23, 2009 ( Memento of February 1, 2012 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Planning approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI 429/09 - December 15, 2009 ( Memento of March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).

↑ Information sheet six-lane expansion between Fuchsberg and Geiselwind. Autobahn Directorate North Bavaria, May 2016, accessed on August 22, 2016 .

↑ Plan approval decision of the government of Lower Franconia PI148 / 13 - May 7, 2013 .

↑ Government of Upper Franconia issues planning approval decision for the expansion of the heavily loaded long-distance traffic connection of the A 3 federal motorway in the section “Aschbach to the east of Schlüsselfeld”. Government of Upper Franconia, December 18, 2013, accessed December 22, 2013 .

^ Government of Middle Franconia: Government of Middle Franconia approves the 6-lane expansion of the A3 federal motorway between Schlüsselfeld and the Höchststadt Nord junction. ( Memento from November 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: regierung.mittelfranken.bayern.de , October 16, 2015, accessed on December 13, 2015.

↑ Government of Middle Franconia: Government of Middle Franconia gives the green light for the six-lane expansion of the A 3 federal motorway between Klebheim and the Aurach fuel and service station. ( Memento from November 20, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: regierung.mittelfranken.bayern.de , November 18, 2015, accessed on December 13, 2015.

↑ Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for Construction and Transport: The Main-Danube Canal Bridge on the A3 near Erlangen is open to traffic . In: stmi.bayern.de , December 11, 2015, accessed on December 13, 2015.

^ Federal Ministry of Transport: List of building permits 2016

^ Motorway junction Fürth / Erlangen: The plan for the major construction site A3. Retrieved April 12, 2019 .

↑ Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria: Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria - planning approval decision. In: abdnb.bayern.de , April 26, 2013, accessed on December 13, 2015 (PDF; 594 kB).

↑ Autobahn Directorate Northern Bavaria, leaflet six-lane expansion Würzburg – Nuremberg

↑ Traffic rolls on controversial junction. In: nordbayern.de , accessed on December 25, 2012, 12:55 pm.

↑ Communication from the German Bundestag from June 2011 (PDF; 116 kB).

↑ Government of the Upper Palatinate conducts the planning approval procedure for the 6-lane expansion of the A 3. Press release Upper Palatinate Government No. 344 of August 25, 2014.

↑ ^a ^b A3 will have six lanes by 2030 - if 1.2 billion euros are raised ( memento from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) In: idowa.de , September 29, 2014.

↑ ^a ^b Marode A 92 is a discontinued model. In: Landshuter Wochenblatt , June 24, 2015.

^ Regensburg - Imminent traffic chaos due to A3 expansion: Companies advise on solutions. (No longer available online.) In: br.de. Bayerischer Rundfunk, February 5, 2018, archived from the original on June 24, 2018 ; accessed on March 11, 2018 .

↑ Speed limit - expansion of the A3: work on the railway bridge has now started. (No longer available online.) In: br.de. Bayerischer Rundfunk, March 1, 2018, archived from the original on December 23, 2018 ; accessed on March 11, 2018 .

^ A3-Regensburg - Six lanes into the future - Info portal of the Autobahn Directorate South Bavaria, accessed on March 11, 2018.

↑ Mittelbayerische.de: Important answers to the expansion of the A3 . In: Mittelbayerische Zeitung . ( Mittelbayerische.de [accessed on April 21, 2018]).

↑ Fact sheet A3 ›A3-Regensburg. Accessed April 21, 2018 (German).

↑ Andreas Glas Regensburg: Fear of the permanent traffic jam on the A3 . In: sueddeutsche.de . February 13, 2018, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed April 21, 2018]).

↑ ^a ^b 1962, BAB Kreuz Leverkusen, site manager Held Jost. Retrieved August 27, 2018 .

↑ No lights for the Autobahn. In: time. September 27, 1968, accessed August 5, 2015 .

↑ Less light, more visibility. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. May 13, 2014, accessed August 5, 2015 .

↑ Speed limit on Elzer Berg: Elzer Berg: 100 on all lanes. (No longer available online.) In: Nassauische Neue Presse. November 6, 2014, archived from the original on November 7, 2014 ; accessed on December 16, 2014 .

↑ A3 traffic will soon be controlled digitally. Rheinische Post, March 6, 2018, accessed on August 26, 2018 .

↑ Tempo 80 because of dangerous blow-ups. In: Deggendorfer Zeitung, pnp.de , June 10, 2014.

↑ Biker demo after a fatal blow-up. In: Mittelbayerische.de , June 23, 2015, accessed on September 2, 2015.

^ Association of German Cement Works e. V .: The construction of concrete pavements on roads. In: beton.org , accessed on September 2, 2015 (PDF).

↑ "auto mobil" at VOX analyzes "The Miracle of Würzburg". ( Memento from February 6, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) In: einsatzinfo112.de , June 16, 2011.

↑ Würzburg miracle: truck flew over six-meter motorway hole. In: oe24.at , February 4, 2009.

↑ Daniel Geradtz: The Pope's visit celebrates milestone anniversary. In: Mittelbayerische.de. July 1, 2016, accessed March 10, 2019 .

↑ A3 and A92 flooded in the Deggendorf district - diversions overloaded. In: Deggendorfer Zeitung, pnp.de , June 5, 2013.

↑ Staffen, Daniel: World War Bomb on the A3: Death lurked on the hard shoulder In: Spiegel Online , October 23, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2018.

↑ Pömmerl, Josef: World War Bomb on the A3: Death on the A3 construction site In: Main-Echo , 23 September 2009. Retrieved on 25 August 2018.

↑ Full closure between Offenbacher Kreuz and the Obertshausen junction ( memento from August 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release on mobil.hessen.de from August 19, 2014.

↑ Blocking probably until tomorrow morning ( Memento from August 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from hessen.mobil.de from August 20, 2014.

↑ A 3 towards Würzburg probably free again tomorrow morning ( Memento from August 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Press release from hessen.mobil.de from August 20, 2014.

↑ Defusing failed: World War II bomb on A3 has to be blown up. In: Spiegel Online , August 19, 2014.

↑ On the A3 near Frankfurt: World War II bomb blown near the airport. In: Spiegel Online , August 19, 2014.

↑ Supreme building authority in the Bavarian State Ministry of the Interior, for construction and traffic: Free State of Bavaria - Road overview map - Responsibilities of the motorway maintenance authorities. In: baysis.bayern.de , January 1, 2016, accessed on September 17, 2016 (PDF).

[1] Feasibility study for the development of the Waldteich industrial park .

[GrünbrückeKönigsforst-2] A3 / L284: Green bridges completed. State Office for Road Construction North Rhine-Westphalia, November 27, 2013, accessed on December 1, 2013 .

[3] A3: 50 new truck parking spaces at the new Sülztal car park between the Lohmar-Nord and Rösrath junctions. State Office for Road Construction North Rhine-Westphalia, December 16, 2019, accessed on February 25, 2020 .

[4] tal-kulturanthropologie.de

[5] Measurement of total length A 3, A 2, A 10 and A 19. Own measurement with the help of Google Maps, accessed on March 31, 2020 .

[Karten-6] "Archive for Motorway and Street History" The development of the network of motorways and trunk roads in Germany according to contemporary maps and plans. strassengeschichte.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

[7] Decree of the Prussian State Ministry of August 23, 1929 on the granting of the right of expropriation to the Provincial Association of the Rhine Province for the construction of a motor vehicle road from Cologne to Düsseldorf; published by the Official Gazette of the Düsseldorf Government, year 1929, No. 36, p. 205, on September 7, 1929 and by the Official Gazette of the Cologne Government, year 1929, No. 37, p. 155 of September 14, 1929.

[8] On the history of the Autobahn. ( Memento from January 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

[9] Working Group on Autobahn History (AGAB) eV: 80 years of the Cologne - Düsseldorf autobahn. Retrieved August 16, 2018 .

[GEO-10] Marion Hombach and Joachim Telgenbüscher: Das Märchen von der Autobahn, p. 85. (No longer available online.) In: GEO EPOCHE No. 57 - 10/12 - Germany under the swastika - Part 1. September 27, 2012, archived from the original on November 9, 2012 ; accessed on July 26, 2018 .

[11] "History, Organization & Literature" → "Calendar and Events" → 1933, September at www.autobahngeschichte.de;
Topographic map from 1939 ( Memento from December 28, 2013 in the Internet Archive ).

[12] stischblatt 4907 (Leverkusen) from 1936, digitized on landkartenarchiv.de

[13] New building in 1936. autobahn-online.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

[14] New building in 1937. autobahn-online.de, accessed on August 16, 2018 .

[15] History of the A3: Section between Cologne and Siegburg completed 80 years ago. In: Kölnische Rundschau . January 6, 2018, accessed January 6, 2018.

[16] District town of Siegburg: The Federal Motorway 3. Accessed on August 16, 2018 .

[Geschichte_Hollandlinie-17] History of the Holland Line. In: autobahn-online.de

[18] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[19] Bridge constructions, a spring and accidents: The history of the A3. In: nordbayern.de. Retrieved on July 8, 2019 (picture gallery with partly beautiful old detailed photos of the construction of the A3).

[20] Lines 86 and 87 In: webreichsautobahn.de

[Geschichte_N-R-21] History of the A3 between Nuremberg and Regensburg. In: autobahn-online.de

[22] See aerial photographs from 1943, available e.g. B. on Google Earth , on which bridge piers can be seen ( 48 ° 59 '57 "N, 12 ° 2' 22" E ).

[Wesel-23] Key date: Inauguration of the first section of the Holland Line - How the Autobahn came to Wesel. Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

[24] The Holland Line. (PDF) Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

[25] Grensfietsen: De vergane grensglorie van Bergh Autoweg. Retrieved August 17, 2018 .

[26] Alfred and Ulrich Lindemann: 1960 - 1970. Retrieved on August 17, 2018 .

[GoetheUni-27] Goethe University Frankfurt: The Frankfurter Kreuz: European hub and unknown hotspot of diversity, Srite 10. (PDF) Retrieved October 25, 2018 .

[28] Association motorway history (AGAB) eV: A3 Frankfurt - Nuremberg. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .

[29] Spiegel: Road construction: Egg with music. April 25, 1962. Retrieved August 22, 2018 .

[30] The Federal Minister of Transport, the supreme building authority in the Bavarian State Ministry of Transport: Federal Motorway Frankfurt Nürnberg , Druckhaus Nürnberg 1964.

[31] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[32] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[33] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[34] History of the A3 Regensburg - Passau on Autobahn-Online.de.

[35] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[36] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[37] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[38] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[39] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[40] List on Autobahn-Online.de.

[41] List of traffic clearances

[bast.de-42] Report of the Federal Highway Research Institute .

[43] Rheinische Post: A3 should have eight lanes. December 17, 2016, accessed September 9, 2018 .

[strassen.nrw.de-44] Information from strassen.nrw on the temporary hard shoulder release (TSF) (accessed: June 19, 2019)

[45] www.leverkusen.com: Motorways. Retrieved August 30, 2018 .

[46] Working group Autobahn history (AGAB) eV: 80 years Cologne - Düsseldorf. Retrieved April 3, 2019 .

[47] Streets.NRW .: The Cologne motorway ring. Retrieved September 6, 2018 .

[48] State government of North Rhine-Westphalia: A3 will be completed to Leverkusen in May. May 8, 2017, accessed September 6, 2018 .

[49] Elzer Berg: 100 on all tracks. (No longer available online.) Nassauische Neue Presse, November 6, 2014, archived from the original on July 7, 2018 ; accessed on September 24, 2018 .

[50] rdbeyern.de: Bridge constructions, a source and accidents: The history of the A3. Retrieved April 3, 2019 .

[51] Information from strassen.nrw: A2 / A3 / A516: Conversion and expansion of the Oberhausen motorway junction (accessed: June 19, 2019)

[52] Information from strassen.nrw: A3 / A40: Conversion of the Kaiserberg motorway junction (accessed: June 19, 2019)

[53] Information from strassen.nrw: A3 / A46: Reconstruction of the Hilden motorway junction (accessed: June 30, 2019)

[54] Press release from strassen.nrw of May 27, 2019: A3: First meeting on the planned expansion of the A3 between Leverkusen-Opladen and Kreuz Hilden

[55] strassen.nrw: A3: Expansion between Hilden and Leverkusen-Opladen

[56] Report from the newspaper Kölnische Rundschau from May 28, 2019: Eight lanes from Opladen to Hilden: Citizens run storm against A3 expansion .

[57] Press release from Straßen NRW - July 19, 2012 ( Memento from June 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive ).

[58] Press release from Straßen NRW from February 3, 2015.

[IRP2011-2015-59] BMVBS investment framework plan for the years 2011 to 2015 ( Memento from April 5, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 5.5 MB).

[60] Press release of the City of Leverkusen - January 22, 2012

[61] ( Page no longer available , search in web archives: A3: On four lanes now also in the direction of Frankfurt . ) Landesbetrieb Straßenbau NRW , June 1, 2017 (press release).@1@ 2

Federal motorway 3

course

Emmerich to Cologne

Cologne to Frankfurt

Frankfurt to Nuremberg

Nuremberg to Passau

Sections as a European route

history

1926 to 1933 - Provincial road and Opladen bypass

1934 to 1945 - Reichsautobahn construction

Cologne – Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf – Oberhausen

Cologne – Frankfurt

Emmerich-Oberhausen

Frankfurt – Nuremberg

Nuremberg – Passau

1950 to 1984

Emmerich-Oberhausen

Frankfurt – Nuremberg

Nuremberg – Passau

List of traffic clearances

Reorganization and renaming

1992

2009

Traffic volume

Current state of development

Netherlands to Cologne

Cologne to Aschaffenburg

Aschaffenburg to Erlangen

Erlangen to Austria

Planning / construction

Expansion in North Rhine-Westphalia

Eight-lane expansion near Limburg

Eight-lane expansion near Frankfurt

Six-lane expansion from Aschaffenburg to Biebelried

Construction progress

Six-lane expansion from Biebelried to Fürth / Erlangen

Construction progress

New junctions between Nuremberg and Regensburg

Six-lane expansion of the Regensburg motorway junction to the Rosenhof junction

particularities

Autobahn junction Oberhausen

Expo and zoo bridge

lighting

Double kilometer designation

Accident blackspot

Railroad and motorway

Autobahn Church

Eight-lane expansion

Approvals hard shoulder

Nuremberg motorway junction

Long section without a rest area

Temperature-dependent speed limit

Two external borders

Execution of the roadway

Compact parking at the Jura West rest area

Events

Accidents during bridge construction

Blocking when the Pope visits

Landslide near Wiesbaden

Closed due to high water

Bomb finds

Responsible motorway maintenance depots

See also

Web links

Individual evidence