Bundesstraße 30
Encyclopedia
The Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße
Bundesstraße , abbreviated B, is the denotation for German and Austrian national highways.-Germany:...

 30
(abbreviated B30) is a highly frequented federal highway in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 running through Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Alb, Lake Constance and the Lech...

 in Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 from Ulm
Ulm
Ulm is a city in the federal German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the River Danube. The city, whose population is estimated at 120,000 , forms an urban district of its own and is the administrative seat of the Alb-Donau district. Ulm, founded around 850, is rich in history and...

 to Friedrichshafen
Friedrichshafen
This article is about a German town. For the Danish town, see Frederikshavn, and for the Finnish town, see Fredrikshamn .Friedrichshafen is a university city on the northern side of Lake Constance in Southern Germany, near the borders with Switzerland and Austria.It is the district capital of the...

 on Lake Constance
Lake Constance
Lake Constance is a lake on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps, and consists of three bodies of water: the Obersee , the Untersee , and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein.The lake is situated in Germany, Switzerland and Austria near the Alps...

. It has a length of approximately 105 km (approximately 65 miles).

Course

The B30 starts at Ulm, passing the cities of Laupheim
Laupheim
Laupheim is a city in southern Germany in the state of Baden Württemberg. Laupheim was first mentioned in 778 and gained its city rights in 1869. One of the main trading routes, from Ulm to Ravensburg and then on towards Lake Constance ran through Laupheim...

, Biberach an der Riß
Biberach an der Riß
Biberach is a town in the south of Germany. It is the capital of Biberach district, in the Upper Swabia region of the German state of Baden-Württemberg...

, Bad Waldsee
Bad Waldsee
Bad Waldsee is a town in Upper Swabia in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is part of the district of Ravensburg, in Oberschwaben. It is situated 20 km south of Biberach an der Riß, and 20 km northeast of Ravensburg. The town is known for its historic old city with many landmarks and large...

, Weingarten
Weingarten (Württemberg)
Weingarten is a town with a population of 24,000 in Württemberg, in the District of Ravensburg, in the valley of the Schussen River. Together with the southern neighbour cities of Ravensburg and Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance , it forms one of 14 medium-sized infrastructural centres in...

 and Ravensburg
Ravensburg
Ravensburg is a town in Upper Swabia in Southern Germany, capital of the district of Ravensburg, Baden-Württemberg.Ravensburg was first mentioned in 1088. In the Middle Ages, it was an Imperial Free City and an important trading centre...

, terminating at Friedrichshafen. Originally planned to continue to Günzburg
Günzburg
Günzburg is a Große Kreisstadt and capital of the district of Günzburg in Swabia, Bavaria. This district was constituted in 1972 by combining the city of Günzburg—which had not previously been assigned to a Kreis —with the district of Günzburg and the district of Krumbach.Günzburg lies...

 and passing the motorway interchange
Interchange (road)
In the field of road transport, an interchange is a road junction that typically uses grade separation, and one or more ramps, to permit traffic on at least one highway to pass through the junction without directly crossing any other traffic stream. It differs from a standard intersection, at which...

 at Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm
Neu-Ulm is a town in Bavaria, capital of the Neu-Ulm district. Neighbouring towns include Ulm, Senden, Pfaffenhofen an der Roth, Holzheim, Nersingen and Elchingen. The population is 51,110 .-History:...

, this stretch has never been completed. The motorway junction at Neu-Ulm, however, has partially been completed.

The first 40 km (approximately 25 miles) from Ulm to Biberach are laid out as a dual carriageway
Dual carriageway
A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...

.

From junction Biberach-South to Oberessendorf, the Bundesstraße 30 is a single lane road.
It is planned, however, to extend this stretch with an alternating extra lane for overtaking. The works for this are planned to be completed by 2009. From Oberessendorf until Baindt the road is again a single lane road. The only traffic lights on the whole route can be found in Gaisbeuren, north of Ravensburg.

A bypass
Bypass (road)
A bypass is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety....

 of Ravensburg has been almost completed, the stretch of the original federal road between Baindt and Ravensburg having been downgraded to the status of a Landesstraße
Landesstraße
Landesstraßen are roads in Germany and Austria that are, as a rule, the responsibility of the respective German or Austrian federal state. The term may therefore be translated as "state road". They are roads that cross the boundary of a rural or urban district...

, the L 313.

History

Originally designated as Württemberg
Württemberg
Württemberg , formerly known as Wirtemberg or Wurtemberg, is an area and a former state in southwestern Germany, including parts of the regions Swabia and Franconia....

ische Staatsstraße 49, during the re-numbering of the road network in 1932, it became Reichsstraße 30 with the maintenance being taken over by the Reichsstraßenverwaltung in 1934. Already in 1936, a bypass of Ravensburg was planned. Due to World War II, this was not built.
Instead, in 1961, a bypass of Bald Waldsee was completed as a dual carriageway.
In 1981, works started on the Ravensburg bypass which is almost complete except for a stretch to the south of Ravensburg.

Problems

Lorries
Truck
A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, with the smallest being mechanically similar to an automobile...

 trying to avoid the motorway toll
Toll road
A toll road is a privately or publicly built road for which a driver pays a toll for use. Structures for which tolls are charged include toll bridges and toll tunnels. Non-toll roads are financed using other sources of revenue, most typically fuel tax or general tax funds...

 by using federal highways, have caused an increase of traffic on secondary roads. This has led to slow-moving traffic southbound from junction Biberach-South onwards. In case of road accidents, traffic frequently comes to a complete standstill. During the various holiday seasons, many motorists, trying to evade heavy traffic on the motorways nearby (A7 and A96
Bundesautobahn 96
is a motorway in southern Germany, leading from the Austrian border near Lindau through Memmingen, Landsberg am Lech to Munich. Two European routes lead through the autobahn: E 43 and E 54....

), contribute, in conjunction with the increase in lorries, to additional congestion
Traffic
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel...

.

When in October 2004, major roads works were carried out between Enzisreute and Ravensburg, the importance of the B30 as a major traffic artery became apparent. Diversionary routes up to 60 km (37.3 mi) were necessary that had to split into two different routes. On the first day of the road works, there were traffic jams of more than 4 km (2.5 mi) at the exits leading to the diversions. On the diversions themselves, traffic collapsed completely at times. The raof works enabled the inhabitants of Gasibeuren to measure the width of the B30, showing that the road in Gaisbeuren is up to 16 metres (18 yards) wide.

Future

Since 1963, the state
States of Germany
Germany is made up of sixteen which are partly sovereign constituent states of the Federal Republic of Germany. Land literally translates as "country", and constitutionally speaking, they are constituent countries...

 of Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...

 aims in the long term to convert the B30 first into a motorway-like federal highway and consequently into the motorway A89.
At this point in time, only the stretch from Ravensburg-South to Friedrichshafen is included into the plans of the federal
Federation
A federation , also known as a federal state, is a type of sovereign state characterized by a union of partially self-governing states or regions united by a central government...

 government. On 23 February 2006, this pans met legal approval, the beginning of the road works for the extension, however, are still uncertain, the earliest date possible being 2008 with a completion date in 2010. The original concern have therefore come true in that once the legal obstacles to build the extension are overcome, the federal government
Politics of Germany
The Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic, based on representative democracy. The Chancellor is the head of government, while the President of Germany is the head of state, which is a ceremonial role but with substantial reserve powers.Executive power is vested in the...

 has run out of funding
Funding
Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money , or other values such as effort or time , for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions...

.

Except for the stretches just outside of Ulm and between Ravensburg and Friedrichshafen, the part of the B30 between Bad Waldsee and Ravensburg counts the highest traffic density, where up to 22.000 vehicles each day were recorded. However, there are plans for a reconstruction of this stretch. These plans are currently only at an embryonic stage, with the only concrete planning being an extension at Enzisreute. Gaisbeuren is particularly badly affected by the intense traffic flow but plans for improvement are not as yet known. Any improvement will have to wait for at least 20 years.

Due to the extension of the road network in the former German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

, funding
Funding
Funding is the act of providing resources, usually in form of money , or other values such as effort or time , for a project, a person, a business or any other private or public institutions...

 for traffic projects in the state] of Baden-Württemberg was cut severely. As a consequence, even the most basic maintenance work on the B30 could often not be carried out, due to the lack of financial
FINANCIAL
FINANCIAL is the weekly English-language newspaper with offices in Tbilisi, Georgia and Kiev, Ukraine. Published by Intelligence Group LLC, FINANCIAL is focused on opinion leaders and top business decision-makers; It's about world’s largest companies, investing, careers, and small business. It is...

resources.

Since then, the federal state of Baden-Württemberg has received more funding from the federal government for maintenance and extension work of the road system, which, however, are still quite modest.
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