Editing Transport in Germany (section)

=== Roads ===
{{Main|Autobahn|Bundesstraße|Landesstraße|Kreisstraße}}
[[File:Münchberger Senke.jpg|thumb|Three-lane autobahn]]
[[File:Leipzig-Halle Airport Condor.jpg|thumb|right|An airport [[taxiway]] crossing the [[Bundesautobahn 14]]]]

Germany has approximately 650,000&nbsp;km of roads,<ref name="transtatsde">{{cite web|url=http://www.iraptranstats.net/de |title=Transport in Germany |access-date=2009-02-17 |work=International Transport Statistics Database |publisher=[[International Road Assessment Program|iRAP]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090307013745/http://www.iraptranstats.net/de |archive-date=March 7, 2009 }}</ref> of which 231,000&nbsp;km are non-local roads.<ref>{{cite web | publisher=[[Federal Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Development|BMVBS]] | url=http://www.bmvbs.de/SharedDocs/DE/Artikel/StB-LA/strasse.html | title=BMVBS - Verkehr und Mobilität-Straße | access-date=2011-05-22 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111011121646/http://www.bmvbs.de/SharedDocs/DE/Artikel/StB-LA/strasse.html | archive-date=2011-10-11 }}</ref> The road network is extensively used with nearly 2 trillion km travelled by car in 2005, in comparison to just 70 billion km travelled by rail and 35 billion km travelled by plane.<ref name="transtatsde"/>

The Autobahn is the German federal highway system. The official German term is ''{{Lang|de|Bundesautobahn}}'' (plural ''{{Lang|de|Bundesautobahnen}}'', abbreviated 'BAB'), which translates as 'federal motorway'. Where no local speed limit is posted, the advisory limit ''([[Richtgeschwindigkeit]])'' is 130&nbsp;km/h. The ''Autobahn'' network had a total length of about {{convert|12996|km}} in 2016,<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.statistik-bw.de/Statistik-Portal/de_jb16_jahrtab36.asp| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20031115021121/http://www.statistik-bw.de/statistik-portal/de_jb16_jahrtab36.asp| archive-date = 2003-11-15| title = Gemeinsames Datenangebot der Statistischen Ämter des Bundes und der Länder}}</ref> which ranks it among the most dense and longest systems in the world. Only federally built [[controlled-access highway]]s meeting certain construction standards including at least two lanes per direction are called ''"Bundesautobahn"''. They have their own, blue-coloured signs and their own numbering system. All ''Autobahnen'' are named by using the capital letter A, followed by a blank and a number (for example [[Bundesautobahn 8|A&nbsp;8]]).

The main ''Autobahnen'' going all across Germany have single digit numbers. Shorter highways of regional importance have double digit numbers (like [[Bundesautobahn 24|A&nbsp;24]], connecting Berlin and Hamburg). Very short stretches built for heavy local traffic (for example [[ring road]]s or the [[Bundesautobahn 555|A&nbsp;555]] from Cologne to Bonn) usually have three digits, where the first digit depends on the region.

East–west routes are usually even-numbered, north–south routes are usually odd-numbered. The numbers of the north–south ''Autobahnen'' increase from west to east; that is to say, the more easterly roads are given higher numbers. Similarly, the east–west routes use increasing numbers from north to south.

The autobahns are considered the safest category of German roads: for example, in 2012, while carrying 31% of all motorized road traffic, they only accounted for 11% of Germany's traffic fatalities.<ref name="http://www.bast.de 2012">{{cite web
|title=Traffic and Accident Data: Summary Statistics - Germany
|date=September 2013
|url=http://www.bast.de/EN/Publications/Media/Unfallkarten-national-englisch.pdf?__blob=publicationFile
|work=Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen (Federal Highway Research Institute)
|publisher=Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen
|access-date=2014-04-07|format=PDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140408224423/http://www.bast.de/EN/Publications/Media/Unfallkarten-national-englisch.pdf?__blob=publicationFile |archive-date=2014-04-08}}</ref>

German autobahns are still toll-free for light vehicles, but on 1 January 2005, a blanket [[LKW-Maut|mandatory toll on heavy trucks]] was introduced.

The national roads in Germany are called ''Bundesstraßen'' (federal roads). Their numbers are usually well known to local road users, as they appear (written in black digits on a yellow rectangle with black border) on direction traffic signs and on street maps. A Bundesstraße is often referred to as "B" followed by its number, for example [[Bundesstraße 1|"B1"]], one of the main east–west routes. More important routes have lower numbers. Odd numbers are usually applied to north–south oriented roads, and even numbers for east–west routes. Bypass routes are referred to with an appended "a" (alternative) or "n" (new alignment), as in "B&nbsp;56n".

Other main public roads are maintained by the ''[[States of Germany|Bundesländer]]'' (states), called ''Landesstraße'' (country road) or ''Staatsstraße'' (state road). The numbers of these roads are prefixed with "L", "S" or "St", but are usually not seen on direction signs or written on maps. They appear on the kilometre posts on the roadside. Numbers are unique only within one state.

The ''[[Landkreis]]e'' (districts) and municipalities are in charge of the minor roads and streets within villages, towns and cities. These roads have the number prefix "K" indicating a ''Kreisstraße''.