Host Nation Update, July 25, 2023
🎉 Remember to visit our Summer Festivals & Special Events roundup to see what’s happening in the region! 🎉
Start of Summer vacation in Baden Wuerttemberg
Travelers in Germany are facing one of the worst weekends for traffic of the vacation season. Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg start their summer vacations and the second wave begins in some federal states and the Netherlands while many holidaymakers from North Rhine-Westphalia and parts of Scandinavia are already on their way home, the ADAC explained on Monday. The traffic club expects the most traffic on the Autobahn on Friday afternoon, Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon. The ADAC expects particularly heavy loads on the roads to the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the Autobahn 1 (Bremen – Lübeck), the A3 (Frankfurt – Passau), the A5 (Hattenbacher Dreieck – Basel), the A6 (Mannheim – Nuremberg), and the A7 from Hamburg to Flensburg and from Hamburg to Füssen/Reutte. In addition, it will probably be full on the A8 from Karlsruhe to Salzburg, the A9 (Halle/Leipzig – Munich), the A19 (Wittstock – Rostock triangle), A24 (Berlin – Hamburg), A45 (Giessen – Dortmund), A61 (Ludwigshafen – Mönchengladbach), A81 (Stuttgart – Singen), A93 (Inntaldreieck – Kufstein), A95 and on the B2 (Munich – Garmisch-Partenkirchen) as well as on the A99 (Munich bypass). The ADAC also forecasts increasing congestion in neighboring countries – including on the home lanes. For example, traffic on the Tauern, Fernpass, Inntal, Brenner and Gotthard routes, as well as on highways to and from the Italian, French and Croatian coasts, will repeatedly come to a standstill in some sections. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten, July 24)
Vacation road works in Stuttgart – This is why motorists should avoid the Schattenring
The number of construction sites in Stuttgart traditionally increases during the summer. During the weeks with less traffic, measures are carried out that would otherwise have negative consequences for traffic. Probably the largest vacation construction site on Stuttgart’s territory this year is in S-west and will probably cause quite a few traffic problems. On Wednesday, July 26, extensive renovation work will begin around the “Schattenring” intersection.
The section of the B14 from the Schattenring to the Heslacher Tunnel is affected. According to the Stuttgart Regional Council (RPS), the renovation project is divided into several construction phases, mainly affects the road surface and pavement and has been estimated at a total cost of 4.9 million euros. The first step will not please the more than 50,000 daily motorists who want to get from the west via the B 14 to Stuttgart’s city center. From Wednesday evening, July 26, the highway will be fully closed in the direction of the Heslacher Tunnel from 8 p.m. until mid-September. On the other hand, the opposite direction to Vaihingen will remain passable for traffic throughout the entire period of the renovations, although the pavements there are also being renewed. The measures on this section of the B 14 will be carried out in two construction phases. First, the road surface in the direction of the city will be renewed and the drainage system will be rehabilitated. As soon as this has been completed, it will be the turn of the outbound carriageways. In construction phase 2, traffic between the Heslacher Tunnel and Schattenring will be shifted to the already rehabilitated roadway. Light-colored material will be used for the new road surface. Such so-called brightening stones are intended to reduce the heating up of the pavement. This gives the pavement greater stability. Another advantage is that the light-colored pavement provides better visibility and thus greater safety in the tunnel. However, according to the RPS, no official detour can be posted for the full closure of the B 14 in the direction of Stuttgart, since there is no alternative route that can accommodate the traffic due to the volume of vehicles that enter the state capital daily via the B 14 and the Heslacher Tunnel. It is certain that there will be significant additional traffic heading toward the city center on Wildparkstrasse and Rotenwaldstrasse. The RPS advises drivers to avoid the area as much as possible – or to switch to alternative means of transportation.
The two bridges of “Schattenring” will be repaired from mid-September onwards following the roadway renovation of the B 14 – always with one side fully closed. This means that these sections will be available to replacement traffic without restriction throughout the summer vacations. The costs for the bridge renovations amounting to around 1.2 million euros are being borne by the federal government.. The RPS does not expect the project to be completed until the end of 2023. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten, July 25)
Traffic in Baden-Württemberg – A hot summer of road construction
The upgrading of the Engelberg tunnel near Leonberg will be a permanent construction site until 2025. The six-lane expansion of the A 81 between Sindelfingen-Ost and Böblingen-Hulb will even result in a full closure during the vacations from September 1 to 4. On the A 8 in the foothills of the Alb, there will also be road resurfacing in the section between Wendlingen and Aichelberg, partly in both directions and partly only in the direction of Karlsruhe on longer stretches. Other obstructions are of shorter duration: On the two weekends 4/7 August and 11/14 August, only one lane will be available at the Albaufstieg on the Drackensteiner Hang in the direction of Karlsruhe. There will be a double obstruction on the second of these weekends, because there will also be one lane less in both directions at the Ulm-West junction. Here, Autobahn Südwest GmbH expressly warns of increased traffic jams. In addition to the Enztal crossing and the section between Aichelberg and Kirchheim/Teck-Ost on the A 8, the ADAC sees a particularly high traffic jams on the A 5 Heidelberg-Basel in both directions between Dreieck Karlsruhe and Karlsruhe-Süd and on the A 81 Stuttgart-Singen in both directions between Rottweil and Tuningen, according to the database. In Stuttgart, there will be the usual vacation roadworks. The city lists a total of 21 in its calendar. On Willy-Brandt-Strasse, between July 31 and August 20, work for the S-21 rail project near the main station and at the State Theater will lead to closures, lane swings and detours. From July 18 to 20, the underpass at Gebhard-Müller-Platz will be closed in this connection. Due to the SSB work at the Uff-Kirchhof light rail stop on the U 1 line in Bad Cannstatt, motorists coming from the Rems Valley and wanting to get to Bad Cannstatt or the city center via the old B 14 must expect a major detour. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten, July 25)
New route at the upcoming CSD (Pride Parade) in Stuttgart this Saturday
The 131 formations will line up on Schwabstrasse and Rotebühlstrasse on Saturday, July 29 (from 12 noon). Start is at 3 pm below the Feuersee. Over the Rotebühlplatz, the Eberhardstraße, the Marktstraße, past the CSD street festival on the Marktplatz, to the Münzstraße and to the Karlsplatz moves the parade. From Karlsplatz, it continues to the Planie for the final rally at about 6:30 p.m. (Stuttgarter Nachrichten, July 25)
