Bundesautobahn 44
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Through NATO and Warsaw Pact
History of construction
The first section of this motorway to open was the connection between Aachen and the Aachen interchange in 1963.
Auxiliary runway for military aircraft
The Geseke-Büren section was constructed as an auxiliary runway. This section is even and straight, without any constructions like bridges and the crash-barriers can be taken out. It was constructed to be a runway for US-military aircraft in the event of war with NATO's opponent, the Warsaw Pact. At both ends of the section there are parking lots for parking and maintenance of the aircraft.
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International E-road network
The Lichtenbusch-Aaachen interchange section is part of the European route E 40. Between the Dortmund-Unna and Kassel-Süd (Kassel south) interchanges, the A 44 is part of the European route E 331.
Constructions
Neersen Interchange
Neersen Interchange is a typical cloverleaf interchange.
After the opening of the Flughafenbrücke near Düsseldorf Airport, the connections to and from the A 52 were extended. Since the opening, two ramps have been closed. If you enter the network at Mönchengladbach-Ost, you cannot change directly to the Roermond-bound direction of A 52. If you approach from Krefeld, you cannot change directly to the Düsseldorf-bound direction. To reactivate these connections, two new bridges are necessary. Construction has been in progress since January 2006. When construction is complete, the interchange will have the following connections:
Connections from A 44 to A 52
Connections from A 52 to A 44
Plans
Extension near Kassel
Near Kassel, the Autobahn will be extended to Thuringia. The following sections are planned:
Demolition of a section
The interchange Jackerath-interchange Holz section and the Otzenrath junction were permanently closed to traffic on 14 October 2005. The reason for the closure was the open mine at Garzweiler II. Before this section was closed, the Bundesautobahn 61 was widened from two to three lanes in each direction. For the closed junction, the junction Mönchengladbach-Wanlo was constructed.
When the open cast mine was exhausted, expected in 2017, a new section of the A 44 was built across the A 61. This new route is built to the south of the old route, and the new junction Jackerath is now located south of the old one.
This section was taken out of the official network-register in November 2005 and is no longer officially a Bundesautobahn.