Bundesautobahn 61

Bundesautobahn 61 (translates from German as Federal Motorway 61, short form Autobahn 61, abbreviated as BAB 61 or A 61) is an autobahn in Germany that connects the border to the Netherlands near Venlo in the northwest to the interchange with A 6 near Hockenheim.

Between Mönchengladbach and Bergheim in the north and Worms, Ludwigshafen and Speyer in the south, it cuts through the landscapes of Eifel and Hunsrück, avoiding areas of dense population while still in proximity to Cologne, Bonn, Koblenz and Bingen.

The A 61, built in the 1970s, is the most western connection from the Netherlands and Belgium to southern Germany so many trucks and tourists from these countries frequent the A 61.

The speed limit there is 130 km/h (81 mph), paid for by RWE Power that in return received permission to close a section of A 44 for their Garzweiler surface mining operation.

[1] Part of the A61 motorway near the village of Gelsdorf had been designed for use as a runway to service travel to the nearby Government bunker facility and in an emergency a section would have been dedicated for use as an airport with spacious aircraft parking spaces at both ends disguised as roadside car parks.

The old start of the A61 in Venlo, border area Netherlands/Germany (Keulse Plein)
Autobahn 61 by the base of the Hunsrück Mountains near the town of Bingen
German Autobahn symbol
German Autobahn symbol