Bottrop/Essen. The A42 between Essen and Bottrop has been open again in one direction since Saturday afternoon. That is now changing for drivers.
The A42 between Bottrop-South and Essen-Nord was completely closed for almost 100 days. Now it will be opened in at least one direction: On Saturday afternoon, the Westphalia motorway opened the lane in the direction of Duisburg.
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However, the opening doesn’t do much for many drivers, as the Bottrop-Süd and Essen-Nord entrances remain closed. This means that you cannot enter the A42 from the B224 in Essen, but have to take the detour to the Altenessen exit.
Bottrop drivers will not benefit from the opening of the A42
If you come from Bottrop, you can’t drive east, i.e. towards Dortmund, anyway. The necessary weighing and barrier system has not yet been installed on this site. It is intended to ensure that no vehicles over 3.5 tons pass through the dilapidated bridge over the Rhine-Herne Canal.
But even when the system is finished – Autobahn Westfalen has promised that the road in the direction of Dortmund will be opened by Easter – nothing will change for drivers coming from Bottrop. You have to head for the Oberhausen-Neue Mitte exit.
The burden of heavy goods traffic in the south of Bottrop and the north of Essen will not decrease either, because trucks are still not allowed to drive over the Rhine-Herne Canal Bridge. This will only be possible again when the new bridge is built. However, the planning approval process is still ongoing for them. This will be followed by a construction period of around four years.
Delay at the barrier and weighing system on the A42
So initially only those coming from the east, i.e. from Gelsenkirchen, Herne, Castrop-Rauxel or Dortmund, will benefit from the partial opening of the A42 on Saturday. You can now drive completely through the A42 again via Essen, Bottrop, Oberhausen, Duisburg to Kamp-Lintfort.
However, there will be delays before the bridge: vehicles will have to reduce their speed to 40 kilometers per hour before driving through the barrier and weighing system. There, cameras and sensors record the size of each vehicle as well as the license plate. If a vehicle is too heavy, the barrier will be lowered and Autobahn GmbH employees will guide it out of the area. According to Autobahn Westfalen, this process takes “a few minutes”.
Article on the A42 closure