In the late 1960s, the GDR revived the pre-war plans, and at the end of the 1970s, a southern route, similar to that existing today, was decided upon.

After reunification, the German government decided that due to the increased truck traffic on federal highway (Bundesstraße) B170, construction had become 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.

Several citizens' initiatives and environmental groups (including the Green League) opposed construction, while the Bundestag, the Federal Ministry of Transport and the Saxon cabinet pushed it on economic grounds.

On 5 November 1995, about 50% of the Dresden electorate took part in this referendum, of whom around 2/3 voted in favour of the construction of the city-cutting variant.

The hills are not required to be flattened: The first part of the first construction phase stretches from Autobahndreieck Dresden-West (A4) to junction Dresden-Gorbitz (B173).

The remaining portion of the second construction phase, from the Dresden-Prohlis junction to Pirna, is 9.9 km long and was released on 22 July 2005.

On 21 December 2006, the motorway from Dresden to the border and on the Czech side the continuation as D8 to Ústí nad Labem for traffic was released.

The A 17 begins at the western Dresden autobahn triangle, generally follows the edge of the city to the south, passing the towns of Heidenau and Pirna until it reaches the border between Germany and the Czech Republic at the Ore Mountains, where it ends.

These are: The designation of A 17 was originally given to a post-reunification Autobahn corridor planned to run from the A 4 near Bautzen to the Polish border at Zittau (actually very close to the German-Polish-Czech tripoint).