Bundesstrasse 4

	Template: Infobox high-ranking street / Maintenance / DE-B
	Bundesstrasse 4 in Germany
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	Federal Republic of Germany
Start of the street:	Bad Bramstedt ; ( 53 ° 55 ′ N , 9 ° 53 ′ E )
End of street:	Nuremberg ; ( 49 ° 24 ′ N , 11 ° 12 ′ E )
Overall length:	378 km
State :	Schleswig-Holstein; Hamburg; Lower Saxony; Thuringia; Bavaria;
	Bundesstrasse 4 in Hamburg ( New Elbe Bridge )
	State of Schleswig-Holstein
	Segeberg district
	Pinneberg district
	Segeberg district
	Pinneberg district
	Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg
	State of Lower Saxony
	District of Uelzen
	Gifhorn district
	District-free city of Braunschweig
	District of Goslar

The German federal highway 4 (abbreviation: B 4 ) originally led from Kiel, since the 1990s a little shorter from Bad Bramstedt in Schleswig-Holstein via Hamburg , Braunschweig , the Harz and Erfurt to Nuremberg . In 2017, almost 380 km of its former 650 km long overall route was still dedicated as federal highway 4. For the most part, the motorways run parallel to the federal road, so that only two longer sections of importance for national traffic remain. The northern section leads from Lüneburg over around 120 kilometers to Braunschweig and is to be replaced by the federal motorway 39 . The southern section leads from Bad Harzburg for around 130 kilometers to Erfurt; No major expansion measures are planned in this part.

Route

B 4 at the highest point, view to the north (towards Torfhaus)

( Kiel - Neumünster -) Bad Bramstedt - Quickborn - Hamburg (- Seevetal - Winsen (Luhe) -) Lüneburg - Uelzen - Gifhorn - Braunschweig (- Wolfenbüttel - Schladen - Vienenburg -) Bad Harzburg - [south. Torfhaus highest point, approx. 825 m above sea level. NHN ] - Braunlage - Nordhausen - Sondershausen - Erfurt (- Arnstadt - Ilmenau - Schleusingen - Eisfeld -) Coburg - Breitengüßbach (- Bamberg - Forchheim -) Erlangen - Nuremberg

Between Braunlage and Lüneburg , the B 4 is part of the Harz-Heide-Straße . Between Hallstadt and Erlangen , the B 4 was downgraded to a state road (St2244) because of the parallel motorways A 70 and A 73 , in Schleswig-Holstein it was also downgraded to state roads because of the parallel federal motorway 7 and federal motorway 215 . In the course of the construction of the federal autobahn 71 and the federal autobahn 73 , the sections between Erfurt and Coburg were also downgraded to state road 3004 (north of Eisfeld) and district road (in Erfurt, south of Eisfeld). Between south of Lüneburg and Maschen, the B 4 became the K 86, K 87, K 46, L 216 and K 7 after the construction of the A 250 and the Lüneburg bypass. It is also through the A 36 and A between Braunschweig and Bad Harzburg 369 has been replaced.

In the course of closing the gap on the A 39 , what is currently the longest stretch between Lüneburg and Braunschweig-Wenden will be downgraded.

history

1971: Expansion to the four-lane trunk road 4 near Erfurt

1976: Planning as federal motorway 369 (Braunschweig - Bad Harzburg - Braunlage)

In the section from Braunschweig to the vicinity of Hamburg, Bundesstraße 4 follows a centuries-old Central European post and transport connection, which was known in the early modern period as the "Salt Road" - because of the salt trade near Lüneburg. In this section, today's route, with the exception of the more recent bypasses and motorway sections, goes back to around 1800. At that time, the street was rebuilt, mainly for military reasons, as a straight and short connection to the most important neighboring areas. Before that, the road layout followed more natural conditions, e.g. B. streams and forest edges, and ran partly one to two kilometers away from the current route. The maps of the Electorate of Hanover from the 18th century give an overview of the older route.

The road originally led to Kiel. The Altona-Kieler Chaussee was built from 1830 to 1832 and was the second art street in the Duchy of Holstein .

In April 1945, concentration camp inmates were the concentration camp Fuhlsbüttel over the then national road 4 (R4) called road towards Kiel to labor education camp Nordmark sent. Kiel was further away from the front line and a number of Hamburg concentration camp prisoners were hidden from the approaching Allies by the Nazis in this way. Many of the concentration camp prisoners did not survive these days of death marches .

On May 4, 1945, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Hans-Georg von Friedeburg, commissioned by Reich President Karl Dönitz , drove from Flensburg - Mürwik , where the last Reich government was staying, in a Mercedes on Reichsstraße 4 (R 4) to sign the partial surrender for the Troops in Northern Germany , Denmark , Holland and Norway . North of Quickborn , Friedeburg and his companions met the British soldiers. Photos from May 4th still document the meeting of Friedeburg with senior officers of the British 2nd Army at the Bilsener Wohld there . He then passed the British lines and drove on to Lüneburg , where the said partial surrender was signed.

Before the A 7 and A 215 were built for the 1972 Olympic Games , the B 4 and the B 404 , built in the 1960s, were the most important connections from Kiel to Hamburg. In the 1990s, the B 4 between Kiel and Neumünster was downgraded to Landesstraße 318 and between Neumünster and Bad Bramstedt to Landesstraße 319; their function for motorized private transport is taken over by the A 7 and the A 215 .

On December 18, 1971, the four-lane new line of the B 4 between Gut Radau and the Bad Harzburg city center was opened, the costs amounted to over 30 million DM . Initially, the line was gradually expanded northwards from 1972 until it ran completely under the designation A 395 four-lane to Braunschweig in December 1994 .

Hamburg - Lueneburg

As early as the 1960s, the B 4 between today's Hamburg-Eidelstedt junction of the A 23 and Hamburg-Stellingen of the A 7 was relocated to the route of the autobahns that they replace there today as a bypass of Eidelstedt . In the area of Stresemannstrasse in Hamburg-Altona-Nord there has been a speed limit of 30 km / h since several serious personal accidents in the 1980s ; At times the busy B 4 was narrowed to one lane in each direction.

The B 4 / B 75 in Wilhelmsburg

South of Hamburg's Elbe bridges , the B 4 has merged with the B 75 onto the short A 255 motorway since the 1990s and, since 1951, has crossed the Wilhelmsburg district as a motorway-like road ( Wilhelmsburger Reichsstraße ) , which led to the A 253 (Harburg bypass) . This section was reduced to the B 75 on October 6, 2019. The section leading south from Hamburg-Harburg between the Hamburg-Wilstorf junction of the A 253 and Fleestedt of the A 7 was redeveloped in the early 2000s. As far as AS Lüneburg-Nord, the B 4 is now being replaced by the A 7 and A 39 and as far as AS Lüneburg-Häcklingen by the Lüneburg bypass.

Lüneburg - Uelzen - Gifhorn - Braunschweig

B 4 as a bypass Uelzen ("Uhlenring")

In connection with the motorway planning in the north-east of Lower Saxony and west of Mecklenburg ( A 14 , A 39 ), a replacement or motorway-like expansion of the B 4 to a good 100 kilometers between Lüneburg (A 39) and Braunschweig ( A 2 ) was discussed several times , but ultimately discarded. In August 2006, a drive-through ban for trucks over twelve tons was introduced in this area - due to the low fines (20 euros) for non-compliance, the situation (too heavy truck transit traffic) has not changed. For regional policy considerations, however, a four-lane expansion between Gifhorn and Braunschweig, especially in the Papenteich area , has been planned for some time .

Braunschweig - Bad Harzburg - Braunlage

Bundesstrasse 4 in Bad Harzburg

Before the post-war period, the Braunschweig – Bad Harzburg line ran via Wolfenbüttel and today's L 615 state road via Ohrum , Dorstadt and Heiningen to Schladen ; from there on over a section now built over by the federal autobahn 36 to Lengde and from here over the complete course of today's county road K 34 via Vienenburg and from today's exit Vienenburg-Süd over the route over the federal autobahn 369 to Gut Radau . At today's exit Westerode south of the Bad Harzburg triangle , the B 4 led over the streets Westeroder Straße , Breite Straße , Dr.-Heinrich-Jasper-Straße / Herzog-Julius-Straße and Nordhäuser Straße through the city area. In particular, the intersection with federal highway 6 in the city center caused a very high level of traffic pollution before the bypass was built in stages.

First of all, the connection between Braunschweig and Wolfenbüttel was partially expanded to four lanes in the 1960s. The four-lane Vienenburg bypass was also completed before 1971. The Bad Harzburg bypass was under construction from 1966 and was opened to traffic on December 10, 1971 at a cost of around DM 30 million. In November 1972, these two bypasses are connected as a four-lane line, and for three years they exist as a single line. On January 1, 1975, the autobahn-like sections of the federal highway 4n in Braunschweig / Wolfenbüttel and Vienenburg / Bad Harzburg were upgraded to the federal autobahn 395 . The four-lane expansion of this motorway as a bypass was completed later in the 1980s. With the completion of the Autobahn on December 15, 1994, the remaining sections of Bundesstraße 4 were also phased out.

The B4 at Königkrug

On October 2, 2001, the 395 federal motorway south of the Bad Harzburg triangle was downgraded, so that a few hundred meters long section of this route fell on federal highway 4. Since then, there has been a direct intersection with Bundesstraße 6 again at the Bad Harzburger Dreieck . On January 1, 2019, the route north of the motorway triangle was upgraded to federal motorway 369 , so that federal highway 4 continues as a four-lane road from the motorway and cuts through the city area. The federal road then continues, still four-lane, through the Radau valley into the Harz . The Bad Harzburg – Torfhaus connection, completed on October 20, 1977, represents an essential backbone for tourism. Torfhaus is the highest town on the B 4. At Braunlage , the B 4 has been developed as a three-lane bypass.

Braunlage - Nordhausen - Erfurt

Bundesstrasse 4 near Braunlage in the Harz ( Oderbrück )

In the southern Harz, bypasses of the towns of Ilfeld and Niedersachswerfen and the city of Nordhausen are planned, as well as an expansion of the federal road between Nordhausen and Sondershausen to four lanes. This expansion is also intended to defuse the previous serpentines on the Sundhäuser Berg there. In Sondershausen itself, after a construction period of four and a half years, a bypass to the west of the city was opened to traffic in October 2008. The construction of this section with a total of ten bridges cost 43 million euros. This means that there are only three through-roads on the 75-kilometer section between Nordhausen and Erfurt: in Greußen , Straussfurt and Gebesee . The construction of the bypasses planned there was postponed indefinitely due to a lack of state funds. With the exception of the bypasses for Ilfeld and Niedersachswerfen (additional requirement), all Thuringian bypasses are classified as an urgent requirement in the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030.

Erfurt - Coburg

Between the A 71 exit Erfurt-Gispersleben and the A 71 exit Ilmenau- West, the B 4 has been 43 km since 2003 (between A4 exit Erfurt-West and Ilmenau) and 2006 (between A71 Erfurt-Gispersleben and A4) Length was relocated to the A 71. For this purpose it was downgraded to Landesstraße 3004 and Kreisstraße 35 (in Erfurt).

Since April 2004, a two-kilometer-long eastern was bypass for Schleusingen built, also known as feeder road to the junction Schleusingen the A 73 is used. The largest structure is a 72 m long three-span bridge over the Nahe . The opening of this line was supposed to take place in winter 2005, but was not completed until June 16, 2006.

Since January 1, 2011, the main road between Ilmenau and Schleusingen has been rededicated as state road 3004 due to the parallel motorways 71 and 73 . A special feature is that the A 71 is currently not allowed to drive dangerous goods vehicles through the Rennsteig tunnel. These vehicles must continue to take the route over the Rennsteig. The next section between Schleusingen and Coburg was also downgraded to a district road due to the parallel A73.

From the (motorway) triangle Coburg-Nord to the Coburg-Zentrum exit, the B 4 is built similar to a motorway and is therefore called the city motorway. As far as Coburg-Süd, the B 4 runs only one lane in each direction. An expansion to two strips in each direction is sought. From Coburg-Süd to the Untersiemau exit, the B 4 is again expanded like a motorway, where it briefly runs with the B 303 to Niederfüllbach . In Untersiemau , the B 289 has been branching off as the southern motorway feeder to Coburg since September 5, 2008 .

Coburg - Nuremberg

Between Breitengüßbach and Hallstadt , the B 4 is not signposted as a federal road, in order to direct heavy traffic in particular to the parallel A 73 and to relieve the two places. In addition, a future reallocation (gradation) will be taken into account.

The Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2003 contains the so-called northern connection of Nuremberg Airport as B 4 under the heading New projects with planning rights . This means a new road between a planned junction 84a of the federal motorway 3 and the airport road. In the documents relating to the planning approval procedure that began in September 2007 , this new building is now referred to as B 4f .

Rödental bypass

Under the project name B 999 Rödental bypass , a 5.4 km long new line was built from 2007 to 2011 after the planning approval decision in December 2006. In addition, the subsequent section of State Road 2202 in Bavaria and State Road 3151 in Thuringia to Unterlind was upgraded to a federal road.

The section begins on the A73 in the northeast of Coburg . The new three-lane construction of the bypass is intended as a motor vehicle to relieve the city of Rödental (in the Coburg district ) of the up to 40,000 vehicles that drive daily from Sonneberg and Neustadt near Coburg to the Upper Franconian center of Coburg. In addition, the districts of Unterwohlsbach and Mönchröden will each be connected to the new federal road by their own junction. Since the planners feared that many commuters would not use the new bypass road because trucks would clog the road due to the planned steep inclines, 2 + 1 lanes were built alternately according to the incline. The route also includes two large bridges, the 160 m long Itztal bridge and the 334 m long Mönchröden valley bridge. The total costs amounted to 41.1 million euros. At the beginning of the planning, less than 30 million euros was assumed for a state road.

The water supply of the city of Rödental was endangered by the construction of the federal highway. For this reason new wells were drilled and in 2008 the new drinking water supply system "Mönchrödener Forst" was put into operation.

On July 25, 2011, the first section between the A 73 and the Rödental / Schalkau Nord junction was opened to traffic. From December 19, 2011, the bypass route was open to traffic. Before the inauguration on July 27, 2012, the Rödental-Mönchröden junction was completed with a new distribution circle. In addition, the eastern section of the route had to be closed for two months from the end of May 2012 in order to rehabilitate an inadequately installed roadway seal on the Mönchröden valley bridge.

In the registrations for the Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 , the bypasses of Sonneberg -Köppelsdorf and Neuhaus am Rennweg are also planned as B4n in order to create an efficient connection between the Sonneberg area (and thus also Coburg ) and Saalfeld / Rudolstadt . As a new construction, this is to follow the routes of the country roads 1150 and 1152 and the B 281 .

Toll

Since January 1, 2007, the MautStrAusdehnV has applied tolls for trucks on the route between the A 23 in Hamburg-Eidelstedt and the end of the B 4 in Bad Bramstedt , which the Federal Office for Goods Transport carries out stationary checks to enforce . Since eight of the 38 sections are toll-free (toll length = "0.0" in the official toll table), the toll length of this section is only 27.6 kilometers.

Since August 1, 2012, another three sections of the B 4 have been subject to tolls under the Federal Trunk Road Toll Act . These are 11.6 kilometers near Lüneburg, 8.4 kilometers near Erfurt and 6.3 kilometers near Nuremberg.

A total of almost 54 kilometers are subject to tolls, which is almost 9% of the total length of 610 kilometers.

Web links

Commons : Bundesstrasse 4 - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Detailed route description of the Altenau - Nordhausen section of the route, which was previously planned as the 369 federal motorway

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h Map of Germany's toll roads
^ Kieler Nachrichten : Bad Bramstedt. The memory still needs time from: August 12, 2016; Retrieved on: July 9, 2017
↑ Kieler Nachrichten : Bad Bramstedt information boards on the Chaussee revealed , from: June 15, 2017; Retrieved on: July 9, 2017

↑ Hans-Georg von Friedeburg. The Man Who Surrenders Three Times , dated: April 25, 2015; Retrieved on: May 2, 2017

↑ Meeting of the German delegation under General Admiral Hans Georg von Friedeburg with British officers on May 4, 1945 at Bilsener Wohld north of Quickborn to sign the partial surrender on the Timeloberg , on: May 2, 2017

^ Wilhelm Baumgarten : Contributed: The larger Bad Harzburg . 1993, p. 94.

^ German General Atlas 1967 on landkartenarchiv.de , accessed on December 28, 2019.

^ Harald Meier, Kurt Neumann: Bad Harzburg. Chronicle of a city. P. 642.

^ Harald Meier, Kurt Neumann: Bad Harzburg. Chronicle of a city. P. 649.

^ Harald Meier, Kurt Neumann: Bad Harzburg. Chronicle of a city. P. 653.

↑ http://www.mdr.de/thueringen/nord-thueringen/5854870.html ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. MDR report on the opening of the bypass, accessed on June 7, 2009

↑ Thüringer Allgemeine, July 22, 2011

↑ BMVI - Federal Transport Infrastructure Plan 2030 - Master Plan. (PDF) Retrieved September 15, 2018 .