Length 81 km | Highway system German autobahns | |
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States: North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony | ||
Bundesautobahn 33 (translates from German as Federal Motorway 33, short form Autobahn 33, abbreviated as BAB 33 or A 33) is an autobahn in Germany which connects the Bundesautobahn 30 in the north and the A 44 in the south.
Contents
Map of A33, Germany
History
The history of the A 33 began in the 1960s as the B 68. It was intended that the route would be extended northwards to reach Bramsche, and to this day, the B 68 has been partially extended between Osnabrück and Bramsche in a similar fashion to an Autobahn.
Two major gaps currently exist in the A 33. Plans to close the 9 km long gap between the A 33 and the A 1 around Osnabrück are underway, the selected route having been submitted by the planning authority of Lower Saxony to the Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development (BMVBS) for approval. A much larger (about 21 km) gap exists between the end of the Autobahn at the exit for Borgholzhausen and Bielefeld. The segment from the south of Bielefeld (B 61) to Steinhagen is scheduled for completion in 2016. The remaining section from Steinhagen to Borgholzhausen via Halle (in North Rhine-Westphalia) is still under litigation, with an estimated commencement of construction in December 2012.
Route
The A 33 begins to the east of Osnabrück in Schinkel, crossing over the A 30 to Osnabrück Süd, running through Georgsmarienhütte, Hilter am Teutoburger Wald, Bad Rothenfelde and Dissen am Teutoburger Wald, ending after around 25 km in Borgholzhausen. At this point, there are considerable traffic jams on the linking B 68, as the area is not equipped to handle all the incoming traffic from the A 33.
From Bielefeld, around 25 km southeast of Borgholzhausen, the A 33 begins a new, running through Bielefeld, Sennestadt, Schloß Holte-Stukenbrock, Paderborn and Borchen before terminating at the Bad Wünnenberg interchange, which joins the A 44 running between Dortmund and Kassel as well as the B 480, which leads on through Brilon in the Sauerland region.
Route names
The three different stretches of road are named according to the region in which they are located. The Osnabrück-Bielefeld route is known as the Teutoburger-Wald-Autobahn, the route between Bielefeld and Paderborn, which feeds into the A 2, is known as the Senneautobahn, and the remainder leading through East Westphalia is known as the Ostwestfalenmagistrale.
Notable features
Between junctions Dissen and Dissen Süd, a tunnel has been built of around 700 m length to protect the surrounding area from the noise.