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75 years of the A7 motorway: A milestone for Northeim and the surrounding area!
Find out everything about the construction of the A7 in Northeim: history, challenges and current traffic information for 75 years.
75 years of the A7 motorway: A milestone for Northeim and the surrounding area!
75 years ago, at a time when Germany was beginning to rebuild itself after the war, the first course was set for the A7 motorway in what is now the Northeim urban area. The preparations for the section between Nörten-Hardenberg and Northeim-West began as early as 1950. At that time, a new motorway construction authority was set up in Northeim to take care of the construction between Nörten-Hardenberg and Seesen. Residents of the towns along the busy federal highway 3 were looking forward to relief - the road was not only a controversial accident hotspot, but also often overloaded.
In the years that followed, specifically from 1951, the pressure on the authorities increased. The Hildesheim district president asked for additional funds to accelerate the project. After survey work that began in 1950, construction work really took off for the first time at the end of that year. The first road between Nörten-Hardenberg and Northeim-West was completed in 1953, a beginning that was of great importance for the region.
The challenges of highway construction
But building the highway turned out to be anything but easy. In 1958, the head of the Northeim motorway construction authority complained about difficulties in finding enough workers, while 900 people were already employed between Northeim and Seesen. In these first years, in addition to the joy of progress, there were also many challenges. A bridge over the tracks near Northeim had to be subsequently reinforced in order to comply with the new building regulations. Originally, a single, more than 700 meter long bridge was planned for both carriageways, but two bridges were ultimately built over the Leine and Rhume rivers.
The plans for the construction of the motorway existed long before the first construction work. As early as the 1920s, the “Association for the Preparation of the Hanseatic Cities – Frankfurt – Basel (Hafraba) Motorway” laid the foundation for the later infrastructure projects. Historically, the route in southern Lower Saxony was decided upon by the Supreme Construction Management of the Reichsautobahnen during the Nazi era. Despite the ambitious planning, the exact route of the motorway could only be realized after the end of the war and with a lot of patience.
Current traffic volumes and accidents on the A7
It turns out that the A7 is not just a motorway, but a lifeblood of the region, creating both connections and challenges. What was originally a relief has long since become a complex traffic structure. The history of the A7 therefore reflects not only the development of the infrastructure, but also the dynamics of traffic conditions in Germany as a whole.
An interesting look at the history of motorway construction in Germany is also provided by Autobahngeschichte.de offered, where various aspects and campaigns surrounding the topic are highlighted. The challenges and changes in transport networks are still of great importance today and deserve our attention.