Autobahn-Tempolimit
How Long Is the German Autobahn?
About 13,200 kilometres of route – or 26,705 kilometres if you count each directional carriageway separately. Here is how that length breaks down, and how much of it is free.
The map colours every autobahn by speed limit – from the longest route to the shortest link road.
The short answer
Germany’s autobahn network is about 13,200 km long, measured along the centre line of each route. Counting both directional carriageways separately – the way network statistics usually do – gives 26,705 km. On 64.7% of that (17,287 km) there is no speed limit.
Route length or carriageway length?
“How long” depends on what you count. An autobahn has two directional carriageways. If you mean the route (the line on the map from A to B), it is roughly 13,200 km. If you count each carriageway separately – the asphalt you actually drive in each direction – the figure nearly doubles to 26,705 km. Both numbers are correct; they simply describe different things. Every percentage on this page refers to the carriageway length, because that reflects how many driven kilometres are genuinely unrestricted.
How much of it has no speed limit?
Of the 26,705 km of directional carriageway:
- 17,287 km (64.7%) have no speed limit – free driving,
- 6,196 km (23.2%) have a fixed speed limit,
- 2,826 km (10.6%) are controlled dynamically (overhead gantries, depending on traffic),
- 396 km (1.5%) without reliable data.
Adding unrestricted and dynamic sections together, 75.3% of the network is not permanently limited. There the recommended speed of 130 km/h applies as advice – not a ban.
The longest autobahns
By far the longest is the A7 at around 968 km, running from Flensburg to the Austrian border – right across the country. It is followed by the A3, A1 and A4.
| Autobahn | Length | no speed limit |
|---|---|---|
| A7 | 967.9 km | 71.7 % |
| A3 | 765.3 km | 65.3 % |
| A1 | 741.5 km | 68.2 % |
| A4 | 582.3 km | 66.5 % |
| A9 | 532.0 km | 64.5 % |
| A8 | 496.9 km | 47.7 % |
The longest continuously unrestricted stretch, by the way, is on the A31 in the north-west: about 188 km in one go without a speed limit. More in The freest autobahns.
Frequently asked questions
How long is the German autobahn network?
About 13,200 km measured as a route, or 26,705 km if you count both directional carriageways separately.
Which is the longest autobahn in Germany?
The A7 at about 968 km, running from Flensburg on the Danish border to the Austrian border near Füssen.
On how many kilometres is there no speed limit?
On roughly 17,287 km (64.7%) of the carriageway. Including dynamically controlled sections, 75.3% is not permanently limited.
Why are there two different length figures?
The route length measures the line from A to B. The carriageway length counts both directions separately and is therefore almost twice as high.
Network figures from OpenStreetMap, analysed for autobahn-tempolimit.de. Route values rounded.