Expressway Potsdam-Schönefeld
The Expressway Potsdam-Schönefeld is the overarching term for a number of transport projects to create a single four-lane, primarily grade-separated highway from Potsdam to Schönefeld south of Berlin, Germany.
The first section is the Nutheschnellstraße (literally "Nuthe Expressway" deriving its name from the river Nuthe), which is an expressway that was already constructed in the 1970s to connect Potsdam city center with its boroughs on the other side of the River Havel in Potsdam-Schlaatz, Potsdam-Stern and Potsdam-Drewitz which are mostly Plattenbau housing estates that were under development at the time.
The traffic flow is north-east straight ahead on the road link "L 76" that runs directly through the built-up areas of Stahnsdorf and Teltow which features major congestion during rush hour.
The Eastern bypass for Mahlow had been constructed in the 1980s, featuring a four-lane expressway running below a railway track that was a major point of congestion before.
The Mahlow bypass track was later extended to the B 96 junction in the 1990s which was changed into a partial cloverleaf interchange during the upgrade of the B 96 into a four-lane expressway (between Rangsdorf and Berlin city limits).
As a replacement an alternate route (later named "B96a") was created that would branch away from the old B96 near Mahlow running east via Schöneld to the southern borders of Berlin-East.
Finally in October 2007 the expressway was completed with a section from that Bridge to Waßmannsdorf, making it a dual carriageway with a design speed of 120 km/h although there are some junctions that are not grade-separated.
A route south of the town was proposed, but it would have been considerably longer as it would not have been connected to the current western end of the Nuthe Expressway but east of it near Drewitz where a new interchange would have been to be created.
Some appeals were blocking the construction start at the eastern end (near Marggraffshof settlement) which were rejected in 2010, and the section opened in 2012.
The first part of the eastern bypass will be finished at the end of the September 2013, the construction project will continue till October 2014.
