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Autobahns were first conceived, planned, and built on a limited scale in [[Germany]] during the [[Weimar Republic]] era in the 1920s, but apart from the [[AVUS]] in [[Berlin]], construction was slow, and most projected sections did not progress much beyond the planning stage due to economic problems and a lack of political support. One project was the private initiative ''HaFraBa'' which planned a "car only road" (the name ''autobahn'' was created in 1929) crossing Germany from [[Hamburg]] in the North via central [[Frankfurt am Main]] to [[Basel]] in [[Switzerland]].
Just days after the 1933 [[Nazi]] takeover, [[Adolf Hitler|Hitler]] enthusiastically embraced an ambitious autobahn construction project and appointed [[Fritz Todt]] the Inspector General of German Road Construction. Soon, over 100,000 laborers worked at construction sites all over Germany. As well as [[job creation program|providing employment]] and improved infrastructure, necessary for economic recovery efforts, the project was also a great success for propaganda purposes. Another aim of the autobahn project was to strengthen centralized rule and national unity (see [[Nazi architecture]]).
The autobahns formed the first limited-access, high-speed road network in the world, with the first section from [[Frankfurt am Main]] to [[Darmstadt]] opening in 1935. This straight section was used for high speed record attempts by the [[Grand Prix motor racing|Grand Prix]] racing teams of [[Mercedes-Benz]] and [[Auto Union]] until a fatal accident involving popular German race driver [[Bernd Rosemeyer]] in early 1938.
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During [[World War II]], the central reservation of some autobahns were paved to allow their conversion into auxiliary airports. Aircraft were either stashed in numerous tunnels or camouflaged in nearby woods. However, for the most part, the autobahns were not militarily significant, and most military and economic freight continued to be carried by rail. After the war, numerous sections of the autobahns were in bad shape, severely damaged by heavy Allied bombing and military demolition. Furthermore, thousands of kilometers of autobahns remained unfinished, their construction brought to a halt by 1942 due to the increasing demands of the war effort.
In [[West Germany]], following the war, most existing autobahns were soon repaired. The finishing of the incomplete sections took longer, with some stretches being opened to traffic only in the 1980s. Some sections cut by the Iron Curtain in 1945 were only completed after German reunification in 1990. Finally, certain sections were never completed, as more advantageous routes were found. Some of these sections stretch across the landscape forming a unique type of [[industrial archaeology|modern ruin]], often easily visible on satellite photographs.
The autobahns in [[East Germany]] and [[Poland]] after 1945 were grossly neglected in comparison to those in West Germany and Western Europe in general. They received minimal maintenance between 1945 and 1989. However, they did not deteriorate because car ownership, and hence traffic volume, in Communist countries was much lower than in the West.
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