Unfinished roads Europe

[SarahJ]

Just to show the UK is not the only one with things never completed, here is two motorway junctions in Germany that were never connected. The upper alpine autobahn was supposed to go From Basle to the A8. only a small section near basle and some non mototway D2 were ever built, one section was meant to from here http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 9&t=h&z=16 on the munich-garmish motorway to here http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&ie= ... 8&t=h&z=15 on the A7.

SJ

[nick_dunn]

Back in 2006 I remember steaming at high speed down the A7 motorway section towards Luxembourg City from Diekirch. My satnav was suggesting the motorway was complete almost to the city suburbs so I wasn't paying close enough attention to the signs. Suddenly it dawned on me that a section of viaduct just down the road was completely missing leading to a rather hefty bit of braking!

Google maps still shows a gap on the A7 motorway section before it links to the A1. Seems like slow progress here - anyone know what's going on with it?

[Christhebull]

The Dutch A4 motorway is an obvious one. You can see that from this junction.

[si404]

The Dutch A4 motorway is an obvious one. You can see that from this junction.

While that one is more obvious than the other 2, the other two gaps on the A4 are pretty obvious from both ends (plans for finishing the northern and southern sections are approved, and construction on the northern one you linked to must be starting soon, given it's due to open in 2013)

The A5 (construction to extend it well progressed now), A8 is clearly unfinished as well.

Wallonia, especially the Mons-Charleroi area, is littered with flares and such-like.

My favourite, however, must be the northern end of the French A10: You have a messy mass of unfinished business - the A10 line into Paris is now used by the TGV, but it TOTSOs at an unfinished 4-level stack with the A87 third ring motorway, and again at the junction between the A87 and the N20 expressway. Add to that that the A87 was built between the A6, and the D36 - though at half-profile for most of it (now the A126, which was to go to the N12 and be full DC, but they've stopped that in a huge cull of road projects last year). In the space of a couple of miles you have half-built A87/A126, which was meant to continue on in both directions (not the A126), a bodge where the A10 TOTSOs at two (I'm pretty sure the N20 junction would have been more full in it's access if the A87 was fully built) unfinished junctions, moving it off an alignment that wasn't built.

[geo449]

You won't find any unfinnished roads in finnland

Anyway, the A.44 near Dortmund seems to be only part built, as it starts and ends on a half built junction. It's western terminus with the B.226 looks like the M23 northern end as well, as can be seen here. Google streetview is on there as well so you can see the bridge over nothing!

[wibble]

There is of course the obviously missing part of the A93 between A and B, requiring a roundabout motorway route currently. (the B15n will eventually join the dots).

The part of the current A93 between the point marked B and the A9 should have been the A90, progressing towards the A8 east of Augsburg (about where the B300 joins currently).

[MJG]

There are a number of discontiguous motorways in Germany waiting for the gaps being filled in the undetermined future. The most fragmented one is the A44 consisting of seven separate sections.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 9&t=h&z=16

The A44 was closed in 2005 and demolished in 2006 between the exits 10 and 12. This is because the enourmous Garzweiler brown coal open pit mine was extended to the west. The road is expected to be rebuilt and reopened by 2017 after which the A61 will be closed and demolished for the same reason.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 4&t=h&z=13

[Truvelo]

Google maps still shows a gap on the A7 motorway section before it links to the A1. Seems like slow progress here - anyone know what's going on with it?

I don't know if you've zoomed in but at larger scales the route is shown complete although coloured white as though it is unclassified.

[aswnl]

There's a difference between a planned road where nothing has happened until now, or a road where construction has begun clearly, but which has never been finished, or even just opened for traffic.

Dutch A4 between A15 and A29 is an example of the planned-only stage
Dutch A4 between Delft and Rotterdam is an example of the construction-halted stage
Belgian N769 near Lommel is an example of a road completely being built but never being opened...

[MJG]

There is an interesting section of an unfinished motorway in Jyväskylä, Finland. In 1960's, a motorway was planned to pass through the town. The first section, 2 kilometres, was complete in late 1960's. The plans provoked heavy criticism, because they would have destroyded a large part of the built-up areas. The road was never completed, and the first section was later downgraded to a street.

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... 1&t=h&z=15

A few years ago, the former 2+2 lane motorway motorway was further downgraded, to an 1+1 lane street:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source= ... ,7.99,,0,5

[Coccodrillo]

The A13 in Luxembourg, due to the opposition from a local terrain owner: http://maps.google.ch/maps?f=q&source=s ... 9&t=h&z=16

[nick_dunn]

Google maps still shows a gap on the A7 motorway section before it links to the A1. Seems like slow progress here - anyone know what's going on with it?

I don't know if you've zoomed in but at larger scales the route is shown complete although coloured white as though it is unclassified.

Done a bit of further checking into this and it seems much of the remaining link to the A1 will be a tunnel section (Stafelter Tunnel) presumably along the course of the Google white line. Looks like it's been in the offing for many years - there are several tunnels of varying lengths on the A7 already. I guess the cost of the overall project has led to delays.

[A303Chris]

Back in 2006 I remember steaming at high speed down the A7 motorway section towards Luxembourg City from Diekirch. My satnav was suggesting the motorway was complete almost to the city suburbs so I wasn't paying close enough attention to the signs. Suddenly it dawned on me that a section of viaduct just down the road was completely missing leading to a rather hefty bit of braking!

Google maps still shows a gap on the A7 motorway section before it links to the A1. Seems like slow progress here - anyone know what's going on with it?

Due to open around now. I was in Larochette last August and came off the Luxembourg City bypass ,the A1 to the south, to find only 800 yards of A7 open. The rest is under construction to where your temporary ending south of Mersch was. The viaduct was completed last year but was not open. The delay is that the new road is in 6 km of tunnels under the hills and ground conditions have been worse than expected according to the locals I was talking to. The signs in August were saying the road would open in March 2011

[A303Chris]

This is a classic unfinnished section of road also in Luxembourg, the A13 which runs adjacent to the French border. All built except for a 1km section where the slips roads to the roundabout are in place but the main line has been left. Really weird to drive. Up a slip road to a tiny off line roundabout to go back on the motorway straight away. Great queues at peak times

Missing A13

[Located]

Wetzlarer Kreuz on the A45 & A480 in Germany, unusual interchange in germany, most (99% probably) are some form of clover leaf. This one isn't even fully used.

http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.59 ... 7&t=k&z=15

[Truvelo]

Wetzlarer Kreuz on the A45 & A480 in Germany, unusual interchange in germany, most (99% probably) are some form of clover leaf. This one isn't even fully used.

http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.59 ... 7&t=k&z=15

I wonder why they used just one carriageway of A480?

The other end of the A480 is also unfinished. This is typical of Germany to see short sections of motorway incomplete at each end. It makes you wonder how dense a network there would be if these stubs were finished.

[A303Paul]

How about the Berlin to Kaliningrad Autobahn (E28)?

This is distinctly unfinished with two main sections. One from Berlin to east of Sczecin which is the A11/E28 in Germany and A6/E28 in Poland. (the E28 then TOTSOs to follows the coast on S2s to Gdyina and Gdansk where it peters out at the E77 south of Gdansk).

The "autobahn" then continues about 20 miles to Chociwel ss a S2 grade separated "B" road with the other carriageway not built.

It ends quite peculiarly. A minor road was diverted down an underpass. The minor road carries on through the underpass with nothing except grass on top a bit like the M23 J7. However, on the southern side of the autobahn the old minor road alignment is used as the temporary end sliproad for the autobahn in a way that rather reminds me of the southern end of the old A40(M) Tring bypass before the rest was built.

Partially built but not open autobahn then continues for another 50 miles or so (quite observable from aerial photos)

The other main section of the Autobahn is a couple of hundred miles away further east. It was built as S2 with grade separated junctions and provision for later D2 but then shut a few years after it was built for about 50 years. It mostly reopened in the last few years but not as a motorway.

The eastern section is the S22 expressway from Elblag to near the Russian border where the border crossing apparently reopened in december 2010. East of the border in Russia it is the P516 to Kaliningrad and gains the E28 designation again. (beyond Kaliningrad the E28 continues to Vilnius and Minsk)

I'm given to understand that there were plans to complete the missing section in the late 1930s, but there were objections and it was one of the causes of a slight international incident, which resulted in the said closure of the eastern bit as well as the cancellation of the middle bit (among other things)

"S" apparently designates an expressway in Poland Anyone know what Pxx stands for on the russian side.

It would certainly make a unique pathetic motorway.


Here is the full story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlinka

[Located]

Wetzlarer Kreuz on the A45 & A480 in Germany, unusual interchange in germany, most (99% probably) are some form of clover leaf. This one isn't even fully used.

http://maps.google.de/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.59 ... 7&t=k&z=15

I wonder why they used just one carriageway of A480?

The other end of the A480 is also unfinished. This is typical of Germany to see short sections of motorway incomplete at each end. It makes you wonder how dense a network there would be if these stubs were finished.

I think the plan was for a motorway exit within 10 km of every town in germany. So a 20 km net.

[Owain]

The best Italian example I can think of is the A12: the northern (Livorno-Genova) and southern (Roma-Civitavecchia) bits were completed in the '70s. The terminus of each of these sections suggests that they were always planned to be joined together, but I understand that there is still some debate about which route to build the remaining section (coastal, along the ss1 Via Aurelia, or inland).

[ScottB5411]

There's also the northern section of the A19 in Belgium which has never been finished.

The North Western end of the A115 in Paris also screams unfinished IMO too.