How will you get there in Germany? Quiz

Answer: A 40 (via Essen)

A40 is the main lifeline of the Ruhr area, linking Duisburg, Oberhausen, Essen, Bochum and Dortmund. Due to constant traffic jams, it is often jokingly referred to as "Germany's longest parking lot". In 2010, a significant part of it was closed for a weekend to enable a cultural celebration "Ruhr-Still-Leben" to take place on it - with surprisingly little adverse effect on the overall traffic in the region.

Answer: A2 (via Hannover)

The A2 Autobahn is the northernmost east-west backbone of the German Autobahn network, ranging from almost the Dutch border (Oberhausen is about 50 km from the Netherlands) to Berlin. It has at least three lanes per direction for its entire length, yet traffic volumes - especially truck traffic - are very high and in spite of not having many steep grades, the road is one of the more dangerous ones when it comes to severe, often fatal accidents, particularly those involving trucks.

Answer: A8 (via Stuttgart)

The southern segment of A8, ranging from Karlsruhe to Munich, crosses difficult terrain with many grades for most of its length. A unique feature of this road is located east of Stuttgart where the two directions diverge for a total of sixteen kilometers: the eastbound lanes round a hill on the southern side while the westbound lanes use the northern flank.

Two more segments of road with the same number exist further northwest and east of Munich, but it is not planned to close the gaps.

Answer: A1 (via Bremen)

In spite of the number 1, the A1 was far from the first Autobahn to be built - the numbering system is similar to that of US Interstates: Odd-numbered single-digit roads are north-south and even-numbered ones are east-west. Two-digit and three digit autobahns are regional and local routes, respectively; their first digit references their "parent" main route while the last digit still gives the cardinal direction. Thus, A659 is a local branch of A6 in east-west direction.

A1 runs from the Danish border to Saarbrücken, almost at the French border. It is still being completed - a roughly 25 km piece in the Eifel is scheduled to be built by the early to mid 2020s but has been subject to many delays already so it could still turn out to be much later.

Answer: A81 (via Heilbronn)

The A81 Autobahn is completely located in southern Germany and follows a generally southwest to northeast direction. Its western segment is one of the oldest created and still on the same route while the eastern branch following Heilbronn is both well built and has low traffic volumes. This is exploited by the automobile industry - many new models are field tested on this road.

The western segment also features the only left Autobahn exit in Germany: travelling northbound, the Gärtringen exit is on the left side. This is a relic from a planned but never built interchange.

Answer: A45 (via Giessen)

Leading through the Sauerland hill range for the longest part of its run, A45 is heavily used especially by commercial and truck traffic. As a result, many of its bridges had deteriorated to the point of needing immediate replacement by the early 2010s and it is expected that extensive construction and associated delays will continue well into the 2020s.

Answer: A3 (via Frankfurt)

Its number would identify A3 as a north-south connection running mostly in the western range of Germany (single-digit odd numbers stand for main north-south routes), but this isn't quite true as it runs in a 45° angle northwest to southeast, actually crossing all other odd-numbered routes - A1 near Cologne, A5 near Frankfurt, A7 close to Würzburg and finally A9 near Nuremberg before finishing at the Austrian border as the easternmost of all the odd-numbered routes.

Answer: A5 (via Heidelberg)

The A5 was originally, in the 1930s, planned as the HaFraBa link, connecting the Hanse cities (Hamburg and Bremen), Frankfurt and Basel. Its role as the contiguous north-south connection was however taken over by A7 and ultimately, only the southern half of the HaFraBa materialized while A5 ends just north of Frankfurt, its traffic splitting to A45 northwest (to Dortmund and from there further north via A1) and a somewhat awkward, generally eastward connection towards A7 instead of a more direct northern continuation towards Hamburg.

Answer: A7 (via Kassel)

At 962 kilometers, A7 is the longest German Autobahn, connecting the Danish border to the Austrian one in a north-south direction. Apart from its Hamburg segment where the highway cuts through the city and tunnels under the Elbe river, it is a relatively unremarkable stretch of road with no difficult terrain along its route.

Answer: A9 (via Leipzig)

During the German partition, A9 was one of the two most important transit routes, linking Berlin to the southern part of Germany. The part on GDR territory was generally in bad shape and limited to 100 kph. After reunification, it was renewed along its entire length. Its southernmost part, in Bavaria, still has some relatively steep grades.