page_title: Controlled-access highway
section_title: Germany
hierarchical_section_title: Controlled-access highway / Regional variation / Europe / Germany
context_page_description: A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms include Interstate and throughway and parkway. Some of these may be limited-access highways, although this term can also refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic.
  In countries following the Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies that walking and parking are forbidden, and they are reserved for the use of motorized vehicles only.
  A controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with other roads, railways, or pedestrian paths, which are instead carried by overpasses and underpasses. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, which allow for speed changes between the highway and arterials and collector roads.
context_section_description: Germany's network of controlled-access expressways includes all federal Autobahnen and some parts of Bundesstraßen and usually no Landesstraßen (State Highways), Kreisstraßen (District Highways) nor Gemeindestraßen (municipal highways).
  The federal Autobahn network has a total length of 12,917 km (8,026 mi) in 2014, making it one of the densest networks in the world.
  The German autobahns have no general speed limit (though about 47% of the total length is subject to local and/or conditional limits), but the advisory speed limit (Richtgeschwindigkeit) is 130 km/h (81 mph). The lower class expressways usually have speed limits of 120 km/h (75 mph) or lower.
caption: German motorways with numbering scheme