Federal motorway 38

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-A
	Bundesautobahn 38 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Rosdorf ; ( 51 ° 27 ′ N , 9 ° 52 ′ E )
End of street:	Brandis ; ( 51 ° 19 ′ N , 12 ° 33 ′ E )
Overall length:	219 km
State :	Lower Saxony; Hesse; Thuringia; Saxony-Anhalt; Saxony;
Development condition:	four-lane
	State of Lower Saxony
	State of Hesse
	State of Lower Saxony
	Free State of Thuringia
	State of Saxony-Anhalt
	Free State of Saxony
	Under construction; In planning; Traffic control system ;

The federal motorway 38 (abbreviation: BAB 38 ) - short form: Autobahn 38 (abbreviation: A 38 ) - is a motorway that branches off from the A 7 south of Göttingen and as the so-called Südharzautobahn ( Südharztangente ) via Heiligenstadt , Leinefelde-Worbis , Nordhausen , Sangerhausen , Lutherstadt Eisleben in the Halle (Saale) and Leipzig area. There it crosses the A 9 and joins the A 14 at the Parthenaue triangle near Naunhof, making it part of the Central German Loop . The A 38 is the German Unity Transport Project No. 13. It opens up the region and, together with the A 7 ( Drammetal - Kassel ) and the A 44 (southeast of Kassel), is to form a further connection between Leipzig / Halle and the Ruhr area, and thus the A 2 partially relieve. The autobahn has been fully passable since December 22nd, 2009.

Common names

In contrast to many other motorways, many alternative names have been popularly established for the A 38:

AD Drammetal – AS Friedland: Feeder Friedland (historically due to the B 524 )
Heidkopftunnel – AS major changes: Eichsfeld autobahn
AS-AD Großwechsungen Südharz: Südharz motorway , Südharz tangent (used partly for the whole highway.)
AD Halle-Süd – AK Rippachtal: Halle southern bypass
AK Rippachtal-AD Parthenaue: southern bypass Leipzig , Südtangente Leipzig

Planning history and construction

Already in the 1930s there were plans for a Reichsautobahn Dessau - west of Halle - Nordhausen - Göttingen (with continuation north of Kassel to Hamm ). The network plan from 1940 also contained this connection, which was to branch off from today's federal motorway 9 near Dessau-Süd and run south of Köthen (Anhalt) via Gerbstedt to Nordhausen and Göttingen. A fragment of this plan still appeared in the maps of Mairs Geographische Verlag Stuttgart until the 1980s, covering a section of the route from Gerbstedt via Ihlewitz (with a branch to Magdeburg ), Könnern - Nelbe (Saalequerung), Könnern, Hohenedlau (with a branch to Halle ) - Gröbzig contained. The network plan of the German Democratic Republic from 1958 also provided for a motorway connection, but branching north of Halle from the Magdeburg - Halle line and continuing via Eisleben and Nordhausen to the inner-German border at Mackenrode . This was in line with the plans in the Federal Republic of Germany: According to the requirements plan of the law on the expansion of federal highways from June 30, 1971, a motorway from the Willebadessen area was via Beverungen - Uslar - Nörten-Hardenberg - Herzberg to the former inner-German border at Mackenrode under the internal name "Autobahn 105" in planning. From January 1, 1975, this connection was included in the route of the A 46 . However, it did not come to fruition. With the second law of 25 August 1980 amending the law on the expansion of federal trunk roads from 1971 to 1985, the route was canceled without replacement. This was also the case with the Third Act of April 21, 1986 amending the Act on the Extension of Federal Highways. Even the GDR did not implement its plan, so that in 1989 there was no efficient transport connection between Göttingen, Nordhausen and Halle.

With the fall of the wall and German reunification, the question of a transport solution arose again. As early as April 9, 1991, the federal government decided on the Transport Projects German Unity (VDE) program in anticipation of the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 1992. It contained the connection Göttingen - Halle (west bypass) - A 14 north of Halle and a junction south of Halle to the federal motorway 9 near Weißenfels . The continuation south of Leipzig was not initially planned. The route Göttingen - Halle - A 14 was named Bundesautobahn 82 , the southern junction to A 9 was named "Bundesautobahn 140". These projects were not examined again when the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan was drawn up in 1992. The requirements plan of the Fourth Act to Change the Long-Distance Road Expansion Act of November 15, 1993 contained both motorways, also under their designation as A 82 and A 140. For the A 140, the Leipzig bypass was now also planned.

In the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003, the cost of building the motorway was given as 1.0 billion euros. Converted to the kilometers built, this means 4.8 million euros per kilometer; the total length is around 219 kilometers. For the state of Saxony-Anhalt the construction costs should amount to 279 million, for Saxony 257 million, for Thuringia 373 million and for Lower Saxony 93 million euros.

As a "German Unity Transport Project", the A 38 was subject to a special law aimed at accelerating planning. The planning and construction were mainly accompanied by citizen protests in the Lower Saxony section. The noise pollution of parts of the community Friedland in the district of Göttingen leads to a recognizable rejection of the motorway in this region. In contrast, the motorway in northern Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt and Saxony is linked with high expectations in terms of traffic performance, accessibility and new industrial developments.

The Halle-Kassel Railway , which was also expanded as a German Unity transport project , runs largely parallel . In addition, the A 38 replaces the B 80 east of Arenshausen .

List of traffic clearances

The individual sections of the A 38 were opened to traffic as follows

year	section	km	comment
1970s	AD Drammetal (then AS Friedland) - southwest of Friedland ( )	4.4 km	as
1997	AS Leuna - Lützen ( )	10.8 km
1998	AS Werther - AS Heringen	7.5 km
2000	Lützen - AS Leipzig-Südwest	15.1 km
2000	west of Wallhausen ( ) - AS Sangerhausen-Süd	8.5 km
2001	AS Leinefelde - AS Breitenworbis	7.5 km
2002	AS Sangerhausen-Süd - AS Lutherstadt Eisleben	17.3 km
2002	Wipperdorf - Werther	9.6 km
2003	AD Drammetal - southwest Friedland ( )	7.9 km
2003	AD Halle-Süd - AS Merseburg-Nord	5.9 km
2003	AS Merseburg-Nord - AS Merseburg-Süd	9.3 km
2003	AS Merseburg-Süd - AS Leuna	4.3 km
2004	AS Roßla - west of Wallhausen	6.9 km
2005	AS Heringen - AS Roßla	15.7 km
2006	southwest of Friedland - AS Heilbad Heiligenstadt	18.9 km
2006	AS Leipzig-Südwest - AS Leipzig-Süd	9.5 km
2006	AS Leipzig-Süd - AS Leipzig-Südost	7.0 km
2006	AS Leipzig-Südost - AD Parthenaue	7.7 km
2006	AS Heilbad Heiligenstadt - AS Leinefelde-Worbis	15.7 km
2006	AS Bleicherode - AS Werther	4.6 km
2008	AS Lutherstadt Eisleben - AS Schafstädt	16.3 km
2008	AS Schafstädt - AD Halle-Süd	5.9 km
2009	AS Breitenworbis - AS Bleicherode	11.9 km
2012	AS / AD major changes		Connection of the
2013	AD Südharz		Connection of the

particularities

AS Leipzig-Süd

Aerial panorama of the Saale bridge Schkortleben

The 1724 meter long Heidkopftunnel (called "Tunnel of German Unity") is the longest tunnel on this route and crosses under the border between the federal states of Thuringia and Lower Saxony .

The BAB 38 runs south of Leipzig about ten kilometers over the spoil site of two former brown coal opencast mines , which required special security measures for their building site .

The BAB 38 forms the southern bypass of the city near Leipzig. It thus not only represents an east-west connection, but also an entrance to Leipzig city center. The amusement park “ Belantis ” received its own motorway exit (“Leipzig-Neue Harth”).

Further individual projects along the A 38

"Rohnetal" tank and rest area opened in 2011

Ancillary facilities and junctions are still being planned, under construction or have already been completed along the A 38. The Rohnetal tank and rest area was completed in the first quarter of 2011. Construction for the Eichsfeld tank and rest area began in June 2016. The opening in the direction of Leipzig was on November 23, 2016 and in the direction of Kassel on December 23, 2016. Since April 29, 2013, the A 71 has been linked to the A 38 via the newly built motorway triangle Südharz . On December 5, 2012, the motorway junction Großwechselungen (junction no. 9) was opened. The connection of the new building to the B 243 was thus completed as planned. The current connection point Leipzig-Süd will take over the function of a motorway junction after the connection of the A 72 Leipzig - Chemnitz.

Environmental pollution and remedy

Settling basin for polluted road water on the A 38 near Knauthain

Due to the ongoing traffic, pollutants, u. a. caused by abrasion from tires, exhaust gases from internal combustion engines and leaks in hydraulic systems. When the weather is damp or when it rains, the pollutant particles in the lanes dissolve, bind with the water and flow into the surrounding natural space. On bridges in particular, surface water is directed to the bridgeheads in a controlled manner, which means that the concentration of pollutants at the point of drainage is relatively high. In order to mitigate the resulting environmental pollution, sedimentation tanks are built in which the pollutant particles should sink and remain before the water continues to flow. This passive type of sewage treatment is u. a. especially important when it comes to bridges that cross water and the wastewater is not to be discharged unfiltered into rivers or lakes. There are numerous implementations of these measures for the A 38 in the Leipzig New Lakeland area .

Trivia

Literary processing

The Germanist Frank Fischer describes in his book Die Südharzreise - Abstract Tourism between Leipzig and Göttingen a trip on the federal highway 38 from Leipzig to Göttingen on October 3rd, 2008, where he also made trips to (literature) historically interesting places along the route .

Blocked during the Pope's visit in 2011

Like the BAB 3 during the Pope's visit to Bavaria in 2006 for the mass on Islinger Feld , the BAB 38 was closed to the believers' buses during the Pope's visit to Germany in 2011 on the occasion of Vespers on Eichsfeld - for 29 hours over a distance of 65 kilometers.

Web links

Commons : Bundesautobahn 38 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

↑ Network map of the Reichsautobahn 1938. Retrieved on April 3, 2019 (map).

^ Motorway overview map, status 1940. Retrieved on April 3, 2019 (map).

↑ The Great Shell Atlas, Mairs Geographischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1979/80, p. 36.

↑ Motorways and trunk roads. Government of the German Democratic Republic, Ministry of Transport, Main Road Administration, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map).

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1971, Part I, p. 873.

↑ Construction work on federal trunk roads in 1972. Expansion of federal trunk roads from 1971 to 1985. Annex to the road construction report 1972. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Network of federal motorways and federal highways. Status January 1, 1976. Federal Minister of Transport, Road Construction Department, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map excerpt).

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1980, Part I, p. 1614.

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1986, Part I, p. 557.

↑ Federal Law Gazette 1993, Part I, p. 1877.

↑ Illustrated entry by a user in the forum of Autobahn-online from March 14, 2011. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on September 23, 2015 ; Retrieved May 28, 2011 .

↑ Construction of rest stops on the A38 at Breitenworbis started. In: eichsfeld.thueringer-allgemeine.de. Retrieved June 10, 2016 .

↑ Tank & Rast opens new Serways service areas Eichsfeld Nord and Eichsfeld Süd on the A38. (No longer available online.) In: tank.rast.de/presse. Archived from the original on April 24, 2017 ; Retrieved April 23, 2017 .

^ Frank Fischer: The South Harz Travel . SuKuLTuR, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-941592-12-4 . ( Online )

↑ Roland Kirbach: Pope's visit: The Pope can come. In: zeit.de. September 15, 2011, accessed March 10, 2019 .

↑ Pope's visit: onslaught of tens of thousands of believers. In: goettinger-tageblatt.de. July 22, 2011, accessed March 10, 2019 .

[1] Network map of the Reichsautobahn 1938. Retrieved on April 3, 2019 (map).

[2] Motorway overview map, status 1940. Retrieved on April 3, 2019 (map).

[3] The Great Shell Atlas, Mairs Geographischer Verlag, Stuttgart 1979/80, p. 36.

[4] Motorways and trunk roads. Government of the German Democratic Republic, Ministry of Transport, Main Road Administration, accessed on March 31, 2013 (map).

[5] Federal Law Gazette 1971, Part I, p. 873.