The German autobahn has a reputation for excellence abroad. The stereotype of open roads where you can put your foot to the floor and go as fast as you want is well known. The reality is very different, however. Today, a driver in Germany will encounter constant construction projects and traffic jams.
The worst part is that things are actually getting more congested. According to ADAC, Germany has never seen so many traffic jams. In 2011, there were 189,000 of them. Last year, that went up sharply to 723,000. Hamburg is the worst part of the country for traffic jams on the autobahn network with 31,630 kilometres backed up in 2017.
Germany has never seen so many traffic jams
Germany
Description
This chart shows the number of reported traffic jams on the German autobahn network.
