The Frankfurter Kreuz is an Autobahn interchange in the city of Frankfurt in Hessen, 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...

 where the autobahns A3 and A5

Bundesautobahn 5

is a 445 km long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the Hattenbach triangle intersection is a 445 km (277 mi) long Autobahn in Germany. Its northern end is the...

 meet. The interchange was originally to be built from 1931 to 1933, but due to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 construction was not finished until 1957.
It underwent massive remodeling in the 1990s, as it had been frequently overloaded due to excess traffic. Today, both autobahns have ten lanes.

Two tunnels of the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line have been put below the Kreuz. The Kreuz is situated at the northeastern corner of Frankfurt International Airport

Frankfurt International Airport

Frankfurt am Main Airport , or simply Frankfurt Airport, known in German as Flughafen Frankfurt am Main or Rhein-Main-Flughafen, is a major international airport located in Frankfurt, Germany, southwest of the city centre....

.

Along with the airport and the airport's railway station

Frankfurt (Main) Flughafen Fernbahnhof

Frankfurt Airport long distance railway station is a railway station at Frankfurt Airport in Germany that is served by long-distance trains, mostly ICE services running on the Cologne–Frankfurt high-speed rail line. It is the largest airport railway station in Germany with about 23,000 passengers...

, the Frankfurter Kreuz is commonly seen as a symbol of Frankfurt's good connections to the world.

With approximately 320,000 http://www.strassenwaerter.de/strassen_und_autobahnmeisterei_frankfurt.htm cars daily it is the most heavily used interchange in the European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

.