is an

autobahn The (; German , ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. Much of t ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. The western part was initially planned as Bundesautobahn 22. It is colloquially known as Ostseeautobahn ("Baltic Freeway") or Küstenautobahn ("Coastal Freeway") due to its geographic location near the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by the countries of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and the North European Plain, North and Central European Plain regions. It is the ...

coastline. The road is not built along a straight line, instead it is built near important cities (

Wismar Wismar (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar () is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city of Mecklenburg after Rostock, Schwerin and ...

Rostock Rostock (; Polabian language, Polabian: ''Roztoc''), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (), is the largest city in the German States of Germany, state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the sta ...

Stralsund Stralsund (; Swedish language, Swedish: ''Strålsund''), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Stralsund (German language, German: ''Hansestadt Stralsund''), is the fifth-largest city in the northeastern German federal state of Mecklen ...

), to make it more beneficial for travel between these cities, and also to serve as bypass. On 25 June 2010 the land counsel of

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony is a States of Germany, German state (') in Northern Germany, northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ' of the Germany, Federal Re ...

decided that the A22 will be renamed to A20 to show it is a lengthening of the Ostsee- or Küstenautobahn. Construction started in 1992, only two years after the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, near the junction

-Nord and was completed in December 2005, when the last section was opened near

Tribsees Tribsees () is a municipality in the Vorpommern-Rügen district, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, in north-eastern Germany. It is situated southwest of Stralsund, and east of Rostock. Etymology The name may come from the Slavic word "treb" or "treb ...

Chancellor Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German retired politician who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. She is the only woman to have held the office. She was Leader of the Opposition from 2002 to 2005 and Leade ...

. Building costs are estimated at

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

1.8 billion. 279 km of the autobahn are in

Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (MV; ; ), also known by its Anglicisation, anglicized name Mecklenburg–Western Pomerania, is a Federated state, state in the north-east of Germany. Of the country's States of Germany, sixteen states, Mecklenburg-Vorpom ...

, 27 km in

Brandenburg Brandenburg, officially the State of Brandenburg, is a States of Germany, state in northeastern Germany. Brandenburg borders Poland and the states of Berlin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony. It is the List of Ger ...

and 30 km in

Schleswig-Holstein Schleswig-Holstein (; ; ; ; ; occasionally in English ''Sleswick-Holsatia'') is the Northern Germany, northernmost of the 16 states of Germany, comprising most of the historical Duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of S ...

, making the A 20 the longest continuously built new autobahn since 1945. On 28 July 2009 the western extension started with the opening between

Autobahnkreuz In the field of road transport, an interchange (American English) or a grade-separated junction (British English) is a road junction that uses grade separations to allow for the movement of traffic between two or more roadways or highways, using ...

Lübeck Lübeck (; or ; Latin: ), officially the Hanseatic League, Hanseatic City of Lübeck (), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 220,000 inhabitants, it is the second-largest city on the German Baltic Sea, Baltic coast and the second-larg ...

and junction Geschendorf. In the meantime the next six kilometers to the temporary end at Weede has been opened for traffic. The extension and opening of the section between the temporary end in Weede and

Bad Segeberg Bad Segeberg (; ) is a German town of 16,000 inhabitants, located in the state of Schleswig-Holstein, capital of the district (Kreis) Segeberg. It is situated approximately northeast of Hamburg, and west of Lübeck. It is famous for its annual ...

is planned for the end of 2010. Further extension west (designated A 22 until June 2010) is planned and awaiting funding, including a tunnel under the Elbe and a 2-way connection with the also-planned A 26. North of Hamburg the A 20 will have a unique function, namely the connection of the highways A 1, A 21, A 7 and A 23, but it will also function as a northern bypass of the city-region of Hamburg which will take traffic going from France and the Benelux countries to Denmark and Sweden away from Hamburg. The western part of the A 22 was initially planned as Bundesautobahn 22. It is still in the planning stage and supposed to connect the A 28 near

Westerstede Westerstede (; Low German: ''Westerstäe'') is the capital of the Ammerland district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated approximately 25 km northwest of Oldenburg. It is known for hosting the Rhodo Festival, the biggest exhibition of ...

with the A 27 near

Bremerhaven Bremerhaven (; ) is a city on the east bank of the Weser estuary in northern Germany. It forms an exclave of the Bremen (state), city-state of Bremen. The Geeste (river), River Geeste flows through the city before emptying into the Weser. Brem ...

, crossing the A 29 near

Jaderberg Jade () is a municipality in the district of Wesermarsch, in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the river Jade Jade is an umbrella term for two different types of decorative rocks used for jewelry or Ornament (art), ornaments. Jade is ...

. A vital part is the Wesertunnel south of Bremerhaven, which is currently part of

Bundesstraße 437 ''Bundesstraße'' (, ), abbreviated ''B'', is the denotation for Germany, German and Austrian national highways. Germany Germany's ''Bundesstraßen'' network has a total length of about 40,000 km. German ''Bundesstraßen'' are labelled ...

. Eastwards of Bremerhaven. The further planning proposes passing

Stade Stade (; ), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (, ) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the Stade (district), district () which bears its name. It is located roughly to the wes ...

and crossing the

Elbe The Elbe ( ; ; or ''Elv''; Upper Sorbian, Upper and , ) is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Giant Mountains of the northern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia (western half of the Czech Republic), then Ge ...

river in a tunnel. Details of the trajectory are being discussed in the counties and municipalities involved; the projected start of construction is said to be around 2013.

Exit list

References

External links

{{Authority control 20 A020 A020 A020