89
The first motorway in Germany was opened on August 6, 1932 by Cologne’s mayor Konrad Adenauer. The approximately 20 kilometer long route, today’s A55, only had one exit, namely in Brühl. Today the motorway network is larger than ever: around 13,000 kilometers. Since 1995, over 2,000 kilometers have been added. This year the federal government wants to spend 6.03 billion euros on investments in the motorway. Last year it was 5.54 billion euros. Expenditure on operations, planning services and administration will remain at 2.3 billion euros as in 2023.
The photo shows the “Rentwertshausen” exit on the A71 in Thuringia.
Johannes Eber is the Strolling Economist. He is an economist from Berlin with a penchant for photography.