Gaustraße

The Gaustraße was a Rheinhessen provincial road between the Schillerplatz in Mainz and the Martin Place in Worms . It was laid out from 1820 to 1830. Its course largely corresponded to today's state road 425.

history

The Gaustein near Dolgesheim was built around 1831 to commemorate the construction of Gaustraße.

The street that started at the Neutor in Mainz and ended at the Worms Martinspforte was an important long-distance connection and, until the 1970s, it was a relief street from Bundesstraße 9 . After the completion of the motorway sections Mainz to Alzey of the federal motorway 63 (formerly: Kaiserstraße between Alzey and Mainz or federal road 40 ) and via the motorway junction Alzey to Worms via the federal motorway 61 , the motorways took over the main traffic load. Gaustraße now runs in the imaginary middle between the B9 and the two motorways. It used to go differently than it does today because it avoided the villages. Only Mommenheim and Weinolsheim were touched by it.

The road was expanded between 1820 and 1830 by the Grand Ducal Hessian government to a total length of 18,313 Hessian fathoms (45,782.5 m), of which 1,981 fathoms (4,952.5 m) ran in built-up areas. The street width outside the localities was 30 Hessian feet (7.5 m) in the section between Mainz and Westhofen and 32 feet (8.0 m) in the section between Westhofen and Worms. Between Mainz and Hechtsheim as well as between Abenheim and Worms, a paved central lane 18 feet (4.5 m) wide was accompanied by footpaths on both sides of 6 and 7 feet (1.5 and 1.75 m) wide. In the middle section between Hechtsheim and Abenheim, the road consisted of a paved road 12 feet (4.0 m) wide, which was accompanied by a summer path and a footpath. In the course of the road a total of five bridges with a clear width of 10 feet (2.5 m) each and thirteen smaller culverts were built. The building material for the high road, limestone north of Abenheim and gravel south of it, was obtained in the vicinity of the road. The total costs including the 8,166 trees planted were 116,169 florins and 31 kr. , of which the Grand Duchy of Hesse raised 41,500 florins and the communities in the catchment area of Gaustraße raised the remaining amount.

After the completion of Gaustraße, a memorial was erected between Dolgesheim and Hillesheim in 1831. The street monument Gaustein is a monumental classical column, in which the names of all communities are carved, which had to participate in the financing of the Gaustraße.

Route

The Gautor in Mainz is passed shortly before the northern end point of Gaustraße.

The confluence of Gaustraße in the market square in Westhofen (center).

The Martinspforte house in Worms is located near the southern end of Gaustraße.

The road follows the natural elevation of the ground and therefore overcomes numerous height differences. From the Hechtsheim district, Gaustraße rises from an altitude of 120 m to 204 m near Gau-Bischofsheim. After Harxheim it drops steeply to 140 m. South of Mommenheim, it runs over a bump at Nazarienberg down into the Selztal at an altitude of 110 m. At Köngernheim there is the possibility to change to today's federal highway 420 in east-west direction. If you stay on Gaustraße, a short distance of 202 m will be reached again shortly after Friesenheim, this height it will hold almost to Hillesheim. From Dolgesheim to Hillesheim it goes down again to 130 m.

The historical course of Gaustraße can be traced as follows on the basis of maps and the street names that still exist today (from north to south):

original route:

Mainz
- Beginning at the Neutor
- On the path
- Hechtsheimer Strasse
(MZ) - Hechtsheim
- Alte Mainzer Strasse
- Heuerstrasse
- Rheinhessenstrasse (L 425)

younger route:

Mainz
- Beginning at Schillerplatz
- Gaustraße
- At the Gautor
- Pariser Strasse ( B 40 )
- Geschwister-Scholl-Strasse (L 425)
(MZ) -Hechtsheim
- Rheinhessenstrasse (L 425)

Gau-Bischofsheim on the Harxheimer district to the west
Harxheim
- Mainzer Strasse (L 425)
- Gaustraße (L 425)
Mommenheim (old route; new L 425 bypass to the west of the village)
- Gaustraße
Selzen
- Gaustraße (L 425)
Koengernheim
- Gaustraße (L 425)
- Oppenheimer Strasse (L 425)
- Gaustraße (L 425)
Friesenheim
- Gaustraße (L 425)
Weinolsheim
- Friesenheimer Strasse (L 425)
- Gaustraße (L 425)
Dolgesheim (old route; new bypass of the L 425 east of the village)
- Weinolsheimer Strasse
- Gaustraße
Hillesheim (old route; new bypass of the L 425 west of the village)
- Dolgesheimer Strasse
- Obergasse
- Bahnhofstrasse
Frettenheim (passing east of the village)
- L 425
(Dittelsheim) -Heßloch
- Hillesheimer Strasse (L 425)
- Dalbergstrasse (L 425)
- Gaustraße (L 425)
- Spitalstrasse (L 425)
west of Bechtheim
- L 425
Westhofen
- Mainzer Strasse (L 425)
- At the market (L 425)
- Wormser Strasse (L 425)
(WHERE) - Abenheim
- Westhofener Strasse (L 425)
- Wonnegaustraße (K 18)
(WHERE) - Herrnsheim
- Emmrich-Joseph-Strasse (K 18 / L 439)
- Gaugasse (L 439)
- Herrnsheimer Hauptstrasse (L 439)
(WO) - Neuhausen
- Gaustraße (L 439)
Worms
- Gaustraße (L 439 or Gemeindestraße)
- End at the Martin gate

Gaustraßen further east

To the east of the actual Gaustraße, other streets that flow into it bear this name:

the road from Bodenheim to Gau-Bischofsheim (confluence there) within the local area of Bodenheim.
the road from Oppenheim to Dexheim within the local area of Oppenheim - the western gate of the city fortifications was also called Gautor. The road continues via Dalheim and ends in Weinolsheim.
the road from Bechtheim in the direction of Monzernheim (L 409) within the local area of Bechtheim (meets the actual Gaustraße between Heßloch and Westhofen).

literature

Werner Lang: Gaustraße. In: Heimatbuch Landkreis Mainz . Printed by Wilhelm Traumüller, Oppenheim am Rhein 1967.
W. Heße: Rheinhessen in its development from 1798 to the end of 1834. Verlag von Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1835.

Individual evidence

^ ^A ^b W. Heße: Rheinhessen in its development from 1798 to the end of 1834 , Verlag von Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1835, pp. 247-259.
^ General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Mainz-Bingen district. Mainz 2020, p. 46 (PDF; 7.9 MB).
^ W. Heße: Rheinhessen in its development from 1798 to the end of 1834. Verlag von Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1835, p. 196.
↑ Map to: Harald Uhlig: Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 150 Mainz. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1964. → Online map (PDF; 4.7 MB) - based on the map of the German Reich 1: 200,000
↑ Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )

^ Werner Lang: Heimatbuch - Landkreis Mainz; P. 124

[Heße-1] A ^b W. Heße: Rheinhessen in its development from 1798 to the end of 1834 , Verlag von Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1835, pp. 247-259.

[2] General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate (ed.): Informational directory of cultural monuments - Mainz-Bingen district. Mainz 2020, p. 46 (PDF; 7.9 MB).

[3] W. Heße: Rheinhessen in its development from 1798 to the end of 1834. Verlag von Florian Kupferberg, Mainz 1835, p. 196.

[BfL-150-4] Map to: Harald Uhlig: Geographical Land Survey: The natural spatial units on sheet 150 Mainz. Federal Institute for Regional Studies, Bad Godesberg 1964. → Online map (PDF; 4.7 MB) - based on the map of the German Reich 1: 200,000

[DE-RP_LANDIS-Karte-5] Map service of the landscape information system of the Rhineland-Palatinate nature conservation administration (LANIS map) ( notes )

[6] Werner Lang: Heimatbuch - Landkreis Mainz; P. 124