North end: Dresden States: Saxony Highway system German autobahns | South end: Czech border Length 44.75 km | |
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Bundesautobahn 17 (translates from German as Federal Motorway 17, short form Autobahn 17, abbreviated as BAB 17 or A 17) is an autobahn in Saxony, south-eastern Germany. It links Dresden to the Czech border where the D8 continues to Prague. The road is a fairly new contribution to the German autobahn-system, with its first stretch opened in 2001 and the last in 2006.
Contents
Map of A17, Germany
Location
The A 17 is one of three autobahns that have one of their end points at the Bundesautobahn 4 near Dresden. The other two are the Bundesautobahn 13 at the northern Dresden autobahn triangle (Dresden – Berlin) and the Bundesautobahn 14 at the Nossen autobahn triangle (Dresden – Leipzig).
The A 17 begins at the western Dresden autobahn triangle, generally follows the edge of the city to the south, passing the towns of Heidenau and Pirna until it reaches the border between Germany and the Czech Republic at the Ore Mountains, where it ends. From there the D8 continues to Prague.
Special
Although the A 17 is only 45 km long, it has quite a lot of larger bridges and tunnels compared to other German autobahns.
The designation of A 17 was originally given to a post-reunification Autobahn corridor planned to run from the A 4 near Bautzen to the Polish border at Zittau (actually very close to the German-Polish-Czech tripoint). Planning for this incarnation of the A 17 was shelved in the 1990s before any fixed route for this Autobahn was established, and the designation was given instead to the southernmost section (then being planned) of the A 13.