A6 (Germany)

The A6 in Germany goes from the French border at Saarbrucken to the Czech border at Waidhaus, where it meets the D5 to Prague.

History

The first plans for the A6 were laid out in 1935; construction on several parts began in 1938. In 1940, construction near Mannheim was stopped when the bridge across the Rhine collapsed, killing many workers. A new bridge, the Theodor Heuss Bridge (Frankenthal), was opened in 1953. Other parts of the A6 were completed in 1941. A part near Kaiserslautern was used as an airstrip by the Luftwaffe during World War II. After the war, it was taken over by US forces and became the Ramstein Air Base, while the A6 was re-built south of the air base.

In the 1960s, construction was continued. One new section cut through the Hockenheimring, requiring a major redesign of the race track which resulted in the construction of the Motodrom stadium.

Much like its southern counterpart, the A8, the A6 is relatively old and has received little upgrading, making it difficult for it to handle today's traffic. The section around Mannheim is currently being widened and modernised from a four-lane to a six-lane motorway requiring the construction of a new bridge over the River Neckar.

The A6 crosses the Kocher valley between Heilbronn and Nuremberg via the Kocher viaduct (German: Kochertalbrücke) near Schwäbisch Hall. With its maximum height of 185 m (607 ft) above the valley bottom, it is the highest viaduct in Germany.

The direct motorway connection between Prague and Paris was completed when the last missing section between junction Amberg-Ost and interchange Oberpfälzer Wald was inaugurated on 10 September 2008.

Route

The A6 starts by heading north-east from the French border near Saarbrucken, past Kaiserslautern to the junction with the A65. It then heads south between the River Rhine and the A5, until it crosses the A5 at Walldorf and heads east and crosses the River Neckar at Heilbronn. It continues east, past Nuremburg, to the Czech border at Waidhaus.