page_title: Bundesautobahn 17
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Bundesautobahn 17 / History
caption_attribution_description: Tunnel Dölzschen der Bundesautobahn 17
context_page_description: Bundesautobahn 17 is an autobahn in Saxony, south-eastern Germany. It links Dresden to the Czech border where the D8 continues to Prague. Construction began in 1998, and connects to the 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.
context_section_description: The first plans of the route were conceptualized as Strecke 72 in 1938, to connect Dresden and Prague. In Dresden, both a south-western variant, as well as the north-eastern variant over the Dresdener Heide and Pirna was planned. The later was decided in 1940, but there was no concrete work due to the war.
  Based on the pre-war planning in the GDR by the end of 1960s, the connection to Prague was again envisaged. End of the 1970s, a southern route, similar to today, was decided. This project came about concrete planning, probably for cost reasons, but not beyond.
  After the reunification, the German government decided that due to the increased truck traffic on the federal highway 170, construction becomes even more urgent. Building on the existing plans, various routes west of Dresden were designed, of which a relatively near-urban variant was adopted. The section from Pirna to the state border, however, was planned further to the west for reasons of landscape protection, as the original route would have touched the Saxon Switzerland National Park region.
  The name A 17 was earmarked for another highway in the early 1990s. This federal highway 17 was to lead southeast from Bautzen to Zittau and on to the Czech Republic. There she would have had connection to the D 35. On this route, the federal highway 178 was realized in sections (federal highway 178n). In Zittau a triangle with the also not built Federal Highway 18 to Cottbus was provided. Today's A 17 to Prague should be run as part of the Federal Highway 13.
  Against the construction of the highway formed after the turn of a network of several citizens' initiatives and environmental groups (including the Green League), while above all the Bundestag, the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Saxon cabinet, the project was pushed at the urging of the economy. A city-cutting variant of the A 17 was rejected by the Dresden City Council majority and repeatedly, as he feared, among other things, unacceptable noise and air pollution. Even the then mayor of Dresden Herbert Wagner (CDU) failed with his veto.
  Then a citizens' initiative for the construction of the A 17 was founded, which initiated a referendum for the construction of the A 17 together with parts of the Dresden CDU-Stadtspitze. On November 5, 1995, about 50% of the Dresden electorate took part in this referendum. Of these, around 2/3 voted in favor of the construction of the city-cutting variant.
  It goes through the environmental impact study, to prevent damage to the habitat during the construction of the expressway. The hills are not required to be flattened:
  the FFH area 37E Valleys of the United and Wilder Weisseritz,
  the "FFH area 179 Lockwitzgrund and Wilisch (compatibility with low-wing bridge, see above),
  the "FFH area 180 Meuschaer Höhe (compatibility by green bridge),
  the "FFH area 85E Seidewitztal and Börnersdorfer Bach (compatibility through arch bridge without supports in the valley bottom),
  the "FFH area 181 Bahrebachtal (Compatibility by slight circumvention) and
  the "FFH area 42E low mountain range around Oelsen (Compatibility through light environment and minimal contact) directly on the border with the Czech Republic.
  The first part of first construction phase goes from Autobahndreieck Dresden-West (A 4) to junction Dresden-Gorbitz (B 173). This 3.6 km long route was built from August 1998, released on 8 October 2001 and cost about 53.6 million euros. The feeder to Dresden, the Coventrystraße (B 173), was expanded from March 2007 four-lane. A local bypass for Kesselsdorf in the course of the B 173 was under construction from 2009 to 2011. As a feeder to Freital the State Road 36 was relocated and expanded. The name "Coventrystraße" (B 173) is named after the British town, Coventry, formerly named Hermann-Matern-Straße, which is named after Hermann Matern, the SED minister and the honorary of Dresden.
  The second part of first construction phase goes from the junction Dresden-Gorbitz (B 173) to Dresden-Südvorstadt (B 170). The 8.6 kilometer longo route cost $286 million Euros. 87% of the costs were 
caption: Tunnel bridge combination crossing the Weißeritz valley
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