- Bundesstraße 3
The Bundesstraße 3 (abbreviated B 3) is one of the longest
Bundesstraße n inGermany . It begins inBuxtehude and continues through Bergen,Celle ,Hannover ,Alfeld ,Einbeck ,Göttingen ,Kassel ,Marburg ,Frankfurt am Main ,Darmstadt ,Heidelberg ,Karlsruhe and Freiburg in southwestern Germany and ends at Weil-Otterbach on the border withSwitzerland . BetweenDarmstadt andWiesloch it is referred to as FerienstraßeBergstraße .Figures
* Bundesländer:
Lower Saxony ,Hesse ,Baden-Württemberg
*Length : 812 kmHistory
Origins
The Bundesstraße 3 is the latest incarnation of a trade route that has been in use since the
Middle Ages . The stretch between Frankfurt and Heidelberg belonged to theArchbishopric of Mainz until 1461. Thereafter it was a part of the Palatinate until 1651. In 1661 the Archbishophric of Mainz and Hesse-Darmstadt agreed to divide the toll revenue: the Archbishophric controlled the road between Frankfurt andHeppenheim when theFrankfurt Fair took place, and Hesse-Darmstadt controlled the route at all other times.Construction of the Modern Road in the 18th Century
Because of its importance to trade, in
1759 the portions immediately north and south of Heidelberg were turned into fixed roads. As the local compulsory laborers did not have the skills necessary for the construction of a high quality road, skilled road workers and engineers were recruited fromAllgäu to finish the project in 1763. By 1771 the portion aroundFreiburg im Breisgau was also completed.In the northern portion between Hannover and Göttingen, the second oldest road in Northern Germany replaced the old dirt path in 1768, with today's B 217 between Hannover and Hameln being already opened as first road in Northern Germany two years ago. A decade later (
1777 ) the stretch between Göttingen and Kassel was likewise modernized.Earlier Sections and Designations
The road from Frankfurt to Basel was designated as Badische "Staatsstraße" (National Road) No 1.
In the early numbering system of
1932 , the Reichsstraße 3 continued in what is today the stretch betweenHamburg andLübeck . This northern segment became a part of the extended Reichsstraße 75 in 1937.Characteristics
While in the north the B 3 is straight and at times, namely between Celle and Hanover, built like an
autobahn , south of Hanover it becomes narrower and more curvy.Between
Göttingen andKassel the B 3 is quite curvy, but also picturesquely set again the central German landscape.Although the stretch from Borken to Marburg is particularly irregular, it is frequently used by tractor trailers from the direction of Frankfurt that want to bypass the mountains and hills around Kassel. From Marburg to Gießen the B 3 is again built like an autobahn.
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