Print this page AUTOBAHN: Das Road
J.M. Syken
Course Outline
In this course, we will examine the development of the German National Road Network known as the Autobahn. This review will include the historical background of limited access road construction for the exclusive use of motor vehicles starting in the early 1920s in Fascist Italy with the completion of the Milano-Laghi (Milan-Lakes) Autostrada. As well, we will discuss the significant developments affecting future motorway construction resulting from the Fifth International Road Congress held in Italy in September 1926. The development of other road networks for motor vehicles resulting from the Fifth Congress (in Europe and the U.S.) will also be discussed including technical, political, economic, financial, aesthetic etc. developments/concerns. Specifically, GM’s Futurama exhibit at the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair and the creation of the first “Superhighway” in the U.S. – the Pennsylvania Turnpike, will be highlighted as will be the influence of the Reichsautobahn on its design/construction.
As well, we will discuss in depth and detail the political, social and economic conditions in post-WWI Germany that gave rise to the “Reichsautobahnen” in Nazi Germany during the period 1933 through 1941. The use of the Reichsautobahn as both a propaganda tool and “make work” project (to relieve chronic unemployment) will be discussed as will be the many technical innovations/details of the design/construction of the Reichsautobahn network. The use of “hand work” (manual labor) to create employment in the early years of construction and the later switch to mechanization as war clouds gathered will be of interest as will be the use of natural materials (i.e. stone) to construct bridges/viaducts (to conserve war materials such as steel) will be of great interest. The post-WWII development of the “Bundesautobahnen” in West Germany and the affects of thr reunification of Germany in the early 1990s on the Autobahn network will also be reviewed as will be the debate over speed limits. The on-going legacy of the Autobahn on road design/construction as well as its significance to German national identity/culture will also be discussed.
This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.
Learning Objective
At the conclusion of this course, the student will:
- Understand/appreciate the importance of road networks dating back to ancient times as a means of promoting commerce and for strategic purposes;
- Understand/appreciate the rise of the motor vehicle in the 1920s and the need for road networks as a result;
- Understand/appreciate the development of limited access, high-speed, grade-crossing free motorways in the post-WWI years;
- Understand/appreciate the multi-faceted development of motorways for political, economic and social reasons;
- Understand/appreciate the importance/influence of the Fifth International Road Congress of September 1926 on the future development of Italy’s model Autostrada and other road networks in Europe and the U.S.;
- Understand/appreciate the objections of both the U.S. and Great Britain to private enterprise constructing toll roads for profit;
- Understand/appreciate the importance of the Milano-Laghi Autostrada as the first road exclusively devoted to motor vehicles and its influences;
- Understand/appreciate the contributions of Piero Puricelli to Italy’s developing Autostrada network;
- Understand/appreciate the debate over toll vs. free roads for motor vehicles;
- Understand/appreciate the role/influence of T.H. MacDonald – Chief of the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (1919-1953), on highway design/construction in the U.S.;
- Understand/appreciate the influences of the Long Island Motor Parkway (1908) on future highway design/construction;
- Understand/appreciate the history of toll roads;
- Understand/appreciate the role of Italian Premier Benito Mussolini in the development of Italy’s Autostrada;
- Understand/appreciate the efforts to develop a national road network in Germany during the Weimar Republic years;
- Understand/appreciate the creation of AVUS (1921) in Berlin;
- Understand/appreciate the design/construction of the first inter-city (Cologne-Bonn) motorway in 1932 and the Nazi effort to minimize its significance when they came to power in 1933;
- Understand/appreciate the use of shoulder-less, undivided highways in early Autobahn designs;
- Understand/appreciate the early objection of the National Socialist Party in Germany as an “elitist fantasy” before their rise to power;
- Understand/appreciate the myth propagated by the Nazi Party that the Autobahn was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler as outlined in his manifesto “Mein Kampf”:
- Understand/appreciate the motivations of the Nazis to change their views on a national road network after coming to power as both a large-scale “make-work” project and showcase for “National Socialism”;
- Understand/appreciate the economic problems of Germany in the immediate post-WWI years and during the worldwide depression;
- Understand/appreciate the lack of ownership of private motor vehicles in Germany due to economic conditions and the development of the “Volkswagen” ("People’s Car”) to help fill the empty Autobahns with cars;
- Understand/appreciate the “Cult of Personality” in Nazi Germany and the declaration of the Reichsautobahnen network as “The Roads of Adolf Hitler”:
- Understand/appreciate the organization/financing of the Reichsautobahn Company as a subsidiary of the Reichsbahn (Natioanl Railway);
- Understand/appreciate the important role of Doctor-Engineer Fritz Todt (1891-1942) as the mastermind of the Reichsautobahn and master of all he observed as “Inspector General of German Roads”:
- Understand/appreciate the development of three east-west and two north-south motorways for the Reichautobahnen;
- Understand/appreciate the emphasis on manual labor in the early years (1933-1936) and change to emphasizing mechanization (1937-1941) in later years;
- Understand/appreciate the use of the Reichsautobahnen for strategic purposes in both peace and war;
- Understand/appreciate the influences of the German Railway system on the Reichsautobahn design/construction;
- Understand/appreciate the use of the Autobahn network by allied forces in the closing days of WWII in Europe and the influence it had on future POTUS D.D. Eisenhower in creating the Interstate Highway System during his administration;
- Understand/appreciate the use of natural materials (i.e. stone) to construct bridges/viaducts on the Reichsautobahnen as a means to preserve vital war materials (i.e. steel);
- Understand/appreciate the use of curves to maintain driver alertness;
- Understand/appreciate the goal of constructing 1K kilometers per year of new Autobhahns in the pre-WWII years;
- Understand/appreciate the development of divided (median) roads with wide shoulders as Autobahn construction developed in the 1930s;
- Understand/appreciate the use of motor trucks and buses on the Reichsautobahn network;
- Understand/appreciate the promotion and use of the Reichsautobahn for tourism purposes;
- Understand/appreciate the design criteria and machinery that allows for an extremely smooth surface on Autobahns;
- Understand/appreciate the preferred use of concrete foundations/surfaces;
- Understand/appreciate the use of stone setts (cobblestone);
- Understand/appreciate the procedures, machinery, design criteria etc. for Autobahn construction in both the pre- and post-WWII eras;
- Understand/appreciate the elimination of grade level intersections and high-speed egress and ingress to the Autobahn via ramps, flying junctions, cloverleafs etc.;
- Understand/appreciate the placement of filling stations, service plazas and rest houses along Autobahn routes;
- Understand/appreciate the emphasis on scenic beauty for the choice of routes and lay-out of Autobahn motorways;
- Understand/appreciate the effective use of signage on the Autobahns;
- Understand/appreciate Hitler’s personal use of the Autobahn network, in particular for traveling from Berlin to his private estate in Bavaria;
- Understand/appreciate the adaptation of German automobile manufacturers to modern production methods and high-performance engines for use on the Autobahns;
- Understand/appreciate the influences of the Autobahn on the design/construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike (1940);
- Understand/appreciate the significance of GM;s Futurama exhibit at the 1939/40 New York World’s Fair on future highway design/construction;
- Understand/appreciate the concept of a road as a “linear park”;
- Understand/appreciate the administration, workmen, principles of design, landscaping, soil mechanics, construction of surfaces, access structures, bifurcations and crossings, development of traffic and construction chronology of the Reichsautobahnen;
- Understand/appreciate the construction the development of the “Bundesautobahnen” in post-WWII West Germany;
- Understand/appreciate the interconnectivity of the Autobahn network before and after WWII with neighboring countries and the takeover of Autobahn sections in the aftermath of WWII;
- Understand/appreciate the development of the Austrian Autobahn network pre- and post-WWII;
- Understand/appreciate the affects of self-destruction and aerial bombing on the Autobahn network during WWII;
- Understand/appreciate the on-going debate over speed-limits and lack thereof on the Autobahn network;
- Understand/appreciate the reunification of Germany, east and west, in the early 1990s and the efforts to integrate and upgrade the East German Autobahns into the more up-to-date West German network;
- Understand/appreciate the expansion of the Autobahn network in the later part of the 20th Century and into the 21st Century;
- Understand/appreciate the development of the EEC into the EU (European Union) and its relationship to Autobahn and European road network development (i.e. UNECE);
- Understand/appreciate the development of a covered roadway forming a series of parks above the A7 which bisects Hamburg into two halves;
- Understand/appreciate the “Last Hitlerbahn” - a 4km stretch (built in 1936) of the A11 which was part of the never completed “Berlinka” (Berlin to Konigsberg) Autobahn; and
- Understand/appreciate the on-going legacy of the Autobahn to the culture/heritage of Germany and its influences around the world.
Intended Audience
This course is intended for architects, engineers and other design/construction professionals.
Benefit to Attendees
The attendee/s will gain an intimate knowledge and insight into the design, construction and operation of Germany’s national road network – the Autobahn.
Course Introduction
The course includes an in-depth PowerPoint presentation and the viewing of videos.
Course Content
In this course, you are required to view/study the following slideshow and the materials contained in the web pages:
AUTOBAHN: Das Road (printable handout in PDF, 18 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)
AUTOBAHN: Das Road (non-printable slideshow for screen-viewing only, 105 MB, see Note A below for downloading instruction)
Note A: Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right-clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader from your computer.
Archival/Documentary Film:
Course Summary
One of the great ironies concerning the story of Germany’s superb national road system – the Autobahn, was that the United States, with more than twenty million motor vehicles by the mid-1920s (and not enough modern roads for the ever-increasing number of cars, trucks and buses using the out-of-date and dangerous existing road network) would have to wait until the mid-1950s to get what Germany already had by the outbreak of WWII. Even more ironic is the fact that, at the time, Germany didn’t really need such a road network since private car ownership was rare, reserved for the elite of German society during both the Weimar Republic and Third Reich era/s. To hear Hitler tell it, it was all his idea from the get-go. Despite the Nazi Party’s earlier contempt for such a national road network, by the time they came to power in early 1933 they had recognized its propaganda and make-work value while the affordable and economical “Volkswagen” (“People’s Car”) would solve the problem of empty Autobahns. Recognizing the strategic and commercial advantages of a modern highway system from his wartime experience as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Europe, as POTUS, D.D. Eisenhower would make manifest (through the Interstate Highway Act of 1956) what Germany had demonstrated to the world (a generation earlier) was possible; a limited access, high-speed, grade-crossing-less motorway extending far and wide. It was to be the first realized national highway system for the exclusive use of motor vehicles and would, eventually, became the model for America and the world to follow. To Germans, it’s part of their heritage as “A Nation of Drivers.”
Related Links
For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autobahn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3h2Rw1mHew
(Film – Tom Hanks on German Autobahn – 09:28)
https://archive.org/details/0431_Road_of_Tomorrow_The_Reel_I_only_00_00_35_00
(Film – Road of Tomorrow - The Pennsylvania Turnpike – 09:32)
https://archive.org/details/ToNewHor1940
(Film – To New Horizons, 1940 – 23:01)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQW6j4Xhrfo
(Film: Road to the Future - 04:59)
Quiz
Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.
DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.
