Expressway Potsdam-Schönefeld

The Expressway Potsdam-Schönefeld is the overarching term for a number of transport projects to create a single four-lane mostly grade-separated highway from Potsdam to Schönefeld south of Berlin (Germany).

The plans for the expressway are based on older plans from the GDR. A route south of Berlin had an important transport and strategic function. The road link was required to allow for traffic to run from Potsdam via Schönefeld to East Berlin without crossing the area of West Berlin. After erection of the Berlin Wall any such route was right out blocked - all traffic had to be diverted to flow around the gated city in the south. The counterpart of this road link in the field of railway is the Berlin outer ring.

With the decision on the expansion of the Berlin Schönefeld Airport to become the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport these plans have been revived in order to create a highway link from Potsdam to Schönefeld. The initial time plan for opening of the new airport in 2010 matches with the original timetable for the construction of a four-lane expressway. After opening the last bypass sections at Güterfelde and Mahlow in late 2014 the road link has been completed.

The first section is the Nutheschnellstraße (literally "Nuthe Expressway" deriving its name from the river Nuthe), which is an expressway that was already constructed in the 1970s to connect Potsdam city center with its boroughs on the other side of the River Havel in Potsdam-Schlaatz, Potsdam-Stern and Potsdam-Drewitz which are mostly Plattenbau housing estates that were under development at the time. In Potsdram-Drewitz the expressway is connected to the Autobahn A 115 motorway that runs via the AVUS to Berlin's City-West.

The Nuthe Expressway ends shortly after the motorway bridge at junction Güterfelde (in planning documents called "Güterfelder Eck"). The traffic flow is north-east straight ahead on the road link "L 76" that runs directly through the built-up areas of Stahnsdorf and Teltow which features major congestion during rush hour. The new expressway was planned as a bypass south of Stahnsdorf / Teltow and running north of the "L 40" in Güterfelde / Ruhlsdorf such that the "new L 40" ("L40n") would be connected to the motorway B 101 south of Großbeeren. The section from Großbeeren to Güterfelde was opened in April 2006 leaving a road section through Güterfelde town to the Nuthe expressway at its end.

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Wikipedia