A5 (Germany)

The A5 in Germany is one of the busiest in Germany, running North-South from its junction with the A7 at Hattenbach to the Swiss border at Basel, closely following the Rhine.

History

As early as the Weimar Republic, the HaFraBa eV association planned a network of trunk roads exclusively for motor vehicle traffic. Initially, a road network was planned that would lead from Hamburg via Frankfurt to Basel and through Switzerland to Italy.

Although the government initially rejected the plans, the Nazi government that came to power in 1933 decided to implement parts of HaFraBa's autobahn plans after all - not least in order to reduce the problem of widespread unemployment at the beginning of the 1930s. The section between Giessen and Basel on the Swiss border was completed by the beginning of the Second World War.

After the war, plans to continue the A5 to the north were abandoned for ecological reasons. Instead, an already completed section of the proposed A48 near Giessen was used to connect the A5 to the A7 from Hamburg.

The Route of the A5

The A5 begins its 445-kilometer route at the junction with the A7 at Hattenbach. It heads South-West towards Giessen, then South to Frankfurt-am-Main. It continues South to Darmstadt, and then follows the Rhine valley, past Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, and Baden-Baden, until it reaches the Swiss border at Basel.

e-Highway

In 2020, a new 5 km (3.1 mi) e-highway test track with catenary overhead lines (in both directions) entered service on the A5 near Frankfurt-am-Main. It is part of a three-stage project announced in 2018. The idea is for trucks fitted with pantographs to use a power supply, as for trains or trams, to drive on the autobahn using electricity, and then to switch to battery power or internal combustion engine for the final miles.