As of: March 15, 2024, 3:41 p.m
By: Franziska Kaindl
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An old route of the A4 from Aachen to Cologne is vegetating like a kind of ghost highway.
But it still serves a purpose.
What many people don't know: In Germany there are also sections of motorway that have not been used for almost ten years.
For example, an old route of the A4 not far from Cologne - tens of thousands of cars used to drive here every day between the North Rhine-Westphalian metropolis and Aachen, but now there is a yawning emptiness in the place.
A4: Relocation of the motorway leaves a section of the route behind
The motorway section near Kerpen had to be relocated due to an expansion of the open-cast coal mine in Hambach.
The expansion had been planned since the 1990s and the project was finally started in 2008.
Since 2014, the A4 has now run about 1.7 kilometers further south over a distance of 17.6 kilometers - and now has six lanes instead of four, reports the online portal
Express
.
Cost: Around 180 to 190 million euros.
The energy supplier RWE took over the share of the relocation, while the federal government paid for the widening of the route.
The former A4 section between Kerpen and Düren was closed due to the Hambach opencast mine.
(Archive image) © Eibner/Imago
Ghost highway is becoming overgrown - the route is still visible
The special thing: The old motorway route was not completely dismantled, the lanes, guardrails and bridges can still be seen, only the signs were removed, as the online portal
E-Fahrer.com
reports.
Roots are bursting out of the asphalt and wild growth is snaking up the old guard rails, according to the
Express
.
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A trip to the Lost Place or “forgotten place” is not really worth it, many areas are cordoned off and anyone who wants to take a look at the former road route can do so from the road bridges.
However, if you look at Google Maps in the satellite view, you can follow the old street layout.
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However, the disused section of the route is not completely useless: since 2017, there have been almost 3,000 solar modules on a former section of the A4 near the community of Niederzier.
According to the online portal
Rheinische Anzeigeblatt,
the “solar highway” supplies 210 households with electricity.