is an

autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track' ...

that crosses

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in a west–east direction. The western segment has a length of , the part in the east is long. Works to continue the A 4 are in progress, but currently no plans exist to fill the gap completely. The A 4 starts north-west of Aachen, where the Dutch A76 enters Germany. Initially it is 2 lanes each way with no speed limit. From Kreuz Aachen to Düren and from Kerpen to Refrath (between Refrath and Köln-Merheim westbound the hard shoulder is the 3rd lane and only open at peak times) it has 3 lanes each way. Between Kreuz Köln-West and Kreuz Heumar it forms the southern part of the Cologne Beltway ( Kölner Autobahnring). The whole rest of the section between Kreuz Aachen and Kreuz Köln-West has a variable speed limit. Between Merzenich and Elsdorf, there is a speed limit of 130 km/h, that has been imposed in 2017, due to an increase of accidents. Between Kreuz Köln-West and Kreuz Heumar the speed limit is 120 km/h. From Kreuz Köln-Ost to Refrath there is a maximum limit of 100 km/h. The westbound section between Köln-Merheim and Kreuz Köln-Ost is restricted to 80 km/h. The section between Refrath and the current terminus at Krombach has no speed limit. Only between Untereschbach and Refrath westbound there is a 100 km/h speed limit from 6 - 10 am on weekdays. It is mostly 2 lanes each way, but between Untereschbach and Wiehl there are several additional climbing lanes in both directions. The eastern part starts at the Kirchheim intersection (with the A 7) and goes through

Eisenach Eisenach () is a town in Thuringia, Germany with 42,000 inhabitants, located west of Erfurt, southeast of Kassel and northeast of Frankfurt. It is the main urban centre of western Thuringia and bordering northeastern Hessian regions, situat ...

Gotha Gotha () is the fifth-largest city in Thuringia, Germany, west of Erfurt and east of Eisenach with a population of 44,000. The city is the capital of the Gotha (district), district of Gotha and was also a residence of the Ernestine House of Wet ...

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...

Gera Gera is a city in the German state of Thuringia. With around 93,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city in Thuringia after Erfurt and Jena as well as the easternmost city of the ''Thüringer Städtekette'', an almost straight string of cit ...

, Chemnitz and

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

to Görlitz, where it crosses the border to Poland and continues as A4 (Poland). The westernmost 11 kilometers of the A 4 form the most easterly stretch of the

European route E314 The European route E 314 is a road in Europe and a part of the United Nations International E-road network. Approximately long, it connects the Belgian university city of Leuven with Aachen, Charlemagne's capital during the early ninth c ...

: continuing east from the Aachen interchange (Kreuz Aachen), the A 4 is part of the

European route E40 European route E40 is the longest European route, more than long, connecting Calais in France via Belgium, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan, with Ridder in Kazakhstan near the border with R ...

. European routes don't have gaps and E40 follows A 45 and A 5, which is a suitable route past the gap of A 4. The first sections of the A 4 were built in the years 1934 to 1937. Just west of

was the Wartha-

Herleshausen Herleshausen is a municipality in the Werra-Meißner-Kreis in Hesse, Germany. Geography Location Herleshausen lies north of a section of the boundary with Thuringia in the thickly wooded area between the Ringgau and the Thuringian Forest (ranges ...

border checkpoint between

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

and

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. However, just eight kilometers down the road, after the Wommen interchange, the road crosses back into the former territory of East Germany into

Gerstungen Gerstungen is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany. In July 2018 the former municipalities of Marksuhl and Wolfsburg-Unkeroda were merged into Gerstungen. History Between 1945 and 1990, Gerstungen station served a ...

(today in

Thuringia Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and lar ...

) for seven kilometers, before crossing back to the former West Germany at

Wildeck Wildeck is a municipality in Hersfeld-Rotenburg district in northeastern Hesse, Germany lying right at the boundary with Thuringia, 54 km southeast of Kassel. Geography Location The community lies partly in the middle Werra valley, in t ...

. Because of that, the section between Wommen and Wildeck-Obersuhl interchanges was closed and fell into decay during the time of German division, it was bypassed by B400 road. Repairs of those parts are scheduled to be completed in 2007. Reconstruction of last section in

between Eisenach and Gotha near the former Inner German Border began in 2007 and required building of new road.

Vinci SA Vinci (corporately styled VINCI) is a French concessions and construction company founded in 1899 as Société Générale d'Enterprises. Its head office is in Nanterre, in the western suburbs of Paris. Vinci is listed on Euronext's Paris sto ...

and

Hochtief Hochtief AG is a German construction company based in Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Wiehltalbrücke accident

The " Wiehltalbrücke" is a bridge which carries the A 4 across the valley of the river

Wiehl Wiehl () is a municipality in the Oberbergischer Kreis, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located approximately 41 km east of Cologne. The neighbouring municipalities Reichshof, Waldbröl, Nümbrecht, Much, Engelskirchen and Gummers ...

. The A 4 near

Gummersbach Gummersbach (; ksh, Jummersbach) is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, being the district seat of the Oberbergischer Kreis. It is located east of Cologne. History In 1109 Gummersbach was mentioned in official documents for t ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

was the site of the most expensive traffic accident in German history: On 26 August 2004, a BMW M3, whose driver did not hold a driving licence and was later found to be driving under the influence, collided with a tanker lorry, carrying 33,000 litres of

gasoline Gasoline (; ) or petrol (; ) (see ) is a transparent, petroleum-derived flammable liquid that is used primarily as a fuel in most spark-ignited internal combustion engines (also known as petrol engines). It consists mostly of organi ...

. The lorry broke through a guardrail, fell off the Wiehltalbrücke and exploded, killing the driver. The subsequent fire caused severe structural damage to the bridge. The driver of the BMW was jailed for 22 months without parole in September 2005. The bridge was closed for weeks until temporary repairs were completed. Permanent repairs began on 28 July 2006 and finished on 22 August 2006, using a unique method never before used in Germany. For the duration of the repairs, where among other things a 20 m × 31 m segment was replaced, the bridge was closed. The repairs cost 7.2 million euros.

References

External links

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