Editing Ruhr (section)

==Transport==
===Public transport===
With the exception of public transport companies serving [[Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia|Hamm]] and [[Kreis Unna]], all such companies in the Ruhr region are run under the umbrella of the [[Verkehrsverbund Rhein-Ruhr]], which provides a uniform ticket system valid for the entire area. The Ruhr region is well-integrated into the national rail system, the [[Deutsche Bahn]], for both passenger and goods services, each city in the region has at least one train station. The bigger central stations have hourly direct connections to the bigger European cities as [[Amsterdam]], [[Brussels]], [[Paris]], [[Vienna]] or [[Zürich]].

The Ruhr area also contains the longest [[tram]] system in the world, with tram and [[Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn|Stadtbahn]] services from [[Witten]] to [[Krefeld]] as well as the [[Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn]] network.
Originally the system was even bigger, it was possible to travel from [[Unna]] to [[Bad Honnef]] without using railway or bus services.

===Road transport===
The Ruhr has one of the densest motorway networks in all of Europe, with dozens of [[Autobahn]]s and similar Schnellstraßen (expressways) crossing the region. The Autobahn network is built in a grid network, with four east–west ([[Bundesautobahn 2|A2]], [[Bundesautobahn 40|A40]], [[Bundesautobahn 42|A42]], [[Bundesautobahn 44|A44]]) and seven north–south ([[Bundesautobahn 1|A1]], [[Bundesautobahn 3|A3]], [[Bundesautobahn 43|A43]], [[Bundesautobahn 45|A45]], [[Bundesautobahn 52|A52]], [[Bundesautobahn 57|A57]], [[Bundesautobahn 59|A59]]) routes. The A1, A2 and A3 are mostly used by through traffic, while the other autobahns have a more regional function.

Both the A44 and the A52 have several missing links, in various stages of planning. Some missing sections are currently in construction or planned to be constructed in the near future.

Additional expressways serve as bypasses and local routes, especially around Dortmund and Bochum. Due to the density of the autobahns and expressways, [[Bundesstraße]]n are less important for intercity traffic. The first Autobahns in the Ruhr opened during the mid-1930s. Due to the density of the network, and the number of alternative routes, traffic volumes are generally lower than other major metropolitan areas in Europe. Traffic congestion is an everyday occurrence, but far less so than in the [[Randstad]] in the Netherlands, another polycentric urban area. Most important Autobahns have six lanes, but there are no eight-lane Autobahns in the Ruhr.

===Air transport===
[[Düsseldorf Airport]] is the intercontinental airport for [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] and is within 20&nbsp;km of most of the Western Ruhr area.
It is served by the [[Düsseldorf Flughafen railway station|Düsseldorf Flughafen]] and [[Düsseldorf Flughafen Terminal railway station]]s, with its several parking lots, terminals and stations being connected by the ''[[H-Bahn|Skytrain]]''.

[[Dortmund Airport]] in the Eastern Ruhr is a mid-sized airport, offering scheduled flights to domestic and European destinations and its approximately 3 million passengers in 2023. Dortmund Airport is served by an express bus to [[Dortmund Hauptbahnhof|Dortmund main station]], a shuttle bus to the nearby railway station ''[[Holzwickede station|Holzwickede]]/Dortmund Flughafen'', a bus connecting to Stadtbahn line U47, as well as a bus to the city of [[Unna]].

<gallery widths="200px" heights="160px">
File:Straßenbahn Essen 106 1614 Hauptbahnhof 1910040732.jpg|A tram of the [[Rhine-Ruhr Stadtbahn]]
File:VRR Linien-Netz 2014.svg|Public transport map Rhein-Ruhr
File:Ruhrtalbruecke-Sonnenuntergang.jpg|[[Bundesautobahn 52]] in [[Mülheim]]
File:Schnettkerbruecke West.jpg|[[A40 motorway (Germany)|A40]] motorway in [[Dortmund]]
File:Flughafen Dortmund.jpg|[[Dortmund Airport]] in the East of the Ruhr
</gallery>