Bundesautobahn 2

is an autobahn in Germany that connects the Ruhr area in the west to Berlin in the east. The A2 starts at the western city of Oberhausen, passes through the north of the Ruhr valley, through the Münsterland and into Ostwestfalen, crossing the former inner-German border and continuing through the Magdeburger Börde to merge into the Berliner Ring shortly before reaching Berlin. Major cities such as Magdeburg, Braunschweig, Hannover and Dortmund are situated very close to the A2. The A2 was modified in the late 1990s, and completely rebuilt in the former East Germany. Of its 486 km (304 miles), 90% have 3 travel lanes and a breakdown lane in each direction. The surface is mostly concrete. The A2 is one of the most important autobahns, connecting several large industrial areas with each other. Congestion is likely between exits 16 and 20. This is the only section between the Ruhrgebiet and Berlin that has only 2 travel lanes and it is generally in a bad state. Widening work there has started and should be finished in a few years time.

History

Parts of the A2 were among the first Reichsautobahns to be built and were completed as early as the late 1930s. The A2 passes the A1 at the Kamener Kreuz, Germany's first cloverleaf exchange. During the division of Germany, the A2 played, together with the A24, an important role as a transit corridor to West Berlin, with allied checkpoints at Helmstedt and Dreilinden-Drewitz (on the A10) respectively. Between the towns of Helmstedt and Marienborn one can still see the former border control points which were turned into a museum in the 1990s.

Trivia

The junction Dortmund-Lanstrop has only been built to give access to the nearby landfill. Garbage trucks will approach it via the autobahn, then exit via secondary roads. The landfill is easily recognizable by the Lanstroper Ei, an old water tower standing on a hill approximately 400 m (.25 miles) away from the Autobahn.

Due to its importance as a major thoroughfare for commercial transit and as a trade route connecting the western parts of Germany to neighboring Eastern European countries such as Poland, it is often nicknamed Warsaw Avenue.

External links

• lostplaces.de - border crossing Helmstedt-Marienborn (German)