German Avenue Road

The German Avenue Road (German: Deutsche Alleenstraße) is a tree-lined holiday route that runs the length of Germany from Rügen on the Baltic Sea to Lake Constance on its border with Switzerland.[1][2] About 2,900 kilometres (1,800 mi) long, it is Germany's longest scenic route. The project is supported by the "German Avenue Route Association" (Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Alleenstraße), whose members are the German Automobile Club ("ADAC"), the German Tourism Association, the German Forest Conservation Society, and other institutions.[3] The forestry scientist, Hans Joachim Fröhlich, was its major proponent.

Portion of the German Avenue Road on Rügen
Portion of the German Avenue Road near Lake Constance

The aim of the Association is to preserve, protect, and maintain avenues in Germany and to restore old avenues after they were destroyed in many places in recent years by road development and safety projects.[4] The Association says the Route connects "the East with West and North to South [and] is a symbol of German unity and common effort of the people of the old and new federal states for the protection of nature."[5]

Cobblestones still serve as pavement on many avenues in the former East German areas. An spokesman for the Route says the average speed is about 70 km/h (43 mph).[6]

The first segment of the German Avenue Road between Rügen Island in the Baltic Sea and Reinsberg was inaugurated on 3 May 1993, progressively completed over the next several years, and completed on 25 May 2000 with the segment from Ettlingen, near Karlsruhe, to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance on the German-Swiss border.[7]

History
Route of the German Avenue Road from Rügen in the northeast to Lake Constance in the southwest

The vision for the creation of the German Avenue Road began shortly after German reunification in 1990:[8]

  1. 9 November 1989 – Opening of the Berlin Wall between West and East Berlin.
  2. 3 October 1990 – Reunification of Germany.
  3. Fall 1990 – ADAC, in its Motorworld magazine, issued an appeal to "Save the Avenues" of the former East Germany.
  4. Summer 1992 – Foundation established for "German Avenue Route" as a tourist facility and ideal connection between the old and new federal German states.
  5. 3 May 1993 – Opening of the first section between Sellin / Rügen and Rheinberg / Brandenburg (264 kilometres (164 mi))
  6. 2 October 1993 – Opening of the second part between Rheinberg / Brandenburg and Wittenberg / Saxony-Anhalt (168 kilometres (104 mi))
  7. 29 September 1994 – Opening of the 3rd section between Wittenberg / Saxony-Anhalt and Goslar / Lower Saxony (249 kilometres (155 mi))
  8. 13 June 1995 – Opening of the 4th section between Goslar / Lower Saxony and Dresden and Plauen / Saxony (680 kilometres (420 mi))
  9. 26 June 1996—Opening of the 5th leg between Duderstadt / Plauen and Fulda (Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony, Thuringia, Hesse, 820 kilometres (510 mi))
  10. 30 April 1997—Opening of the 6th Leg between Meiningen (Thuringia) and Braubach am Rhein (Rhineland-Palatinate, 530 kilometres (330 mi))
  11. 6 May 1998—Opening of the 7th Leg between Braubach (Rhineland-Palatinate) and Karlsruhe / Ettingen (Baden-Wuerttemberg, 290 kilometres (180 mi))
  12. 25 May 2000—Opening of the 8th and final leg from Ettingen to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance on the border with Switzerland (Baden-Wuerttemberg, 539 kilometres (335 mi))

Route
Stage Route
Stage 1Rügen (Cape Arkona / Sellin) – Putbus – Garz/Rügen – Stralsund (following the Bundesstraße 194) – Grimmen – Loitz – Demmin – Borrentin (branching off in the Grammentin Forest) – Grammentin – Kummerow – Malchin – Dahmen – Malchow – Sietow – Röbel – Wesenberg – Rheinsberg
Stage 2Rheinsberg – Brandenburg an der Havel – Wittenberg and Dessau
Stage 3Dessau – Duderstadt
Stage 4Wittenberg – Moritzburg – Dresden –Plauen
Stage 5Duderstadt and Plauen – Fulda
Stage 6Fulda – Friedberg (Hesse) – Bad Nauheim – Limburg an der Lahn – Boppard – Kastellaun – Simmern/Hunsrück – Gemünden (Hunsrück) – Simmertal – Bad Sobernheim – Bad Kreuznach
Stage 7Bad Kreuznach – Alzey – Gau-Odernheim – Hillesheim (Rheinhessen) – Dorn-Dürkheim – Kirchheim an der Weinstraße – Weisenheim am Berg – Karlsruhe – Ettlingen – Freudenstadt
Stage 8Freudenstadt – Tübingen – Reutlingen – Gammertingen – Riedlingen – Bad Saulgau – Weingarten – Ravensburg – Markdorf – Meersburg – Konstanz – Reichenau Island
Stage 9Höxter – Horn-Bad Meinberg – Detmold – Bad Lippspringe – Paderborn – Lippstadt – Soest – Möhnesee – Schwerte – Dortmund
Stage 10Dortmund – Herdecke – Wetter – Schwelm – Radevormwald – Wupper Dam – Remscheid – Schloss Burg – Große Dhünn Dam – Altenberg Cathedral – Bechen – Bergisch Gladbach-Bensberg – Rösrath – Neunkirchen-Seelscheid – Siegburg – St. Augustin – Königswinter – Bad Honnef

Literature
  • Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Alleenstraße (Hrsg.): Deutsche Alleenstraße – von Rügen bis zum Bodensee. WKP-Verlag, Freilassing 2001 (2nd ed.)
  • Baedeker Allianz: Reiseführer Deutschland. Ein As im Ärmel. Verlag Mair-Dumont. November 2009. p. 131f. ISBN 978-3-8297-1186-9
  • Thomas Billhardt, Günther Bellmann: Die Deutsche Alleenstraße. Zwischen Rügen und Rheinsberg. Ullstein, Berlin 1996. ISBN 3-550-06904-9
  • Thomas Billhardt, Günther Bellmann: Die Deutsche Alleenstraße. Zwischen Rheinsberg und Wittenberg. Ullstein, Munich 2003 (5th ed.). ISBN 3-550-06887-5
  • Ulf Böttcher, Wolfgang Hoffmann: Die deutsche Alleenstrasse – von der Insel Rügen bis zum Fläming. Mitteldeutscher Verlag, Halle 1995. ISBN 3-354-00857-1

References
  1. "Deutsche Alleenstraße". (Original German:) Die Route von der Insel Rügen an der Ostsee bis zur Insel Reichenau im Bodensee umfasst rund 2.900 Straßenkilometer, fast alle eingerahmt von alten und wieder nachwachsenden Alleebäumen. (English translation:) The route, from the island of Rügen in the Baltic Sea to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance, covers around 2,900 kilometers of roadway, almost all framed by old and renewable trees.
  2. Deutsche Alleenstraße – Wir über uns, accessed on 20 July 2010
  3. Deutsche Alleenstraße – Chronik: Gründungsmitglieder, accessed on 20 July 2010
  4. Christopher Cottrell (14 October 2011). "Dangerous Lanes: German State Aims to Curb Tree Deaths". Der Spiegel. Known for its majestically tree-lined boulevards, Brandenburg leaves its motorists little room for error. And now, with the number of tree-related deaths on the rise, the state Infrastructure Ministry called earlier this week for speed limits on the Brandenburg's most dangerous roads to be reduced to 70 kilometers per hour (43 mph). "In 2010, 192 people died on our streets – 78 of whom were killed by trees," said Brandenburg's infrastructure minister, Jörg Vogelsänger.
  5. "Alleenschutz (English: Avenue Protection)". (German)...das Ost mit West und Nord mit Süd verbindet... Die Deutsche Alleenstraße – Symbol der Deutschen Einheit und gemeinsamer Beitrag der Menschen in den alten und neuen Bundesländern zum Schutz der Natur
  6. Borngräber, Kati (21 June 2005). "Deutsche Alleenstraße: Genießer lassen sich Zeit". Der Spiegel.
  7. Chronicles of the German Avenue Road Project
  8. http://www.adac.de/_mmm/pdf/Alleenstrasse_Chronologie_18316.pdf%5B%5D
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