HaFraBa
HaFraBa e.V. stands for the association Verein zur Vorbereitung der Autostraße Hansestädte–Frankfurt–Basel (English: Association for the preparation of the motorway Hanseatic cities–Frankfurt–Basel) and was one of the first large Autobahn projects in Germany.
The association was founded on November 6, 1926 as Verein zum Bau einer Straße für den Kraftwagen-Schnellverkehr von Hamburg über Frankfurt a.M. nach Basel (English: Association for the building of a road for the automobile fast-moving traffic from Hamburg over Frankfurt to Basel) by Robert Otzen.[1] It projected a motorway link from Hamburg to Hanover and from Frankfurt to Basel (and from Basel to Genoa). The marked-out route matches nearly the today's Autobahn 5 and the Northern part of the Autobahn 7.
On May 31, 1928 the association was renamed as the Verein zur Vorbereitung der Autostraße Hansestädte–Frankfurt–Basel to include the Hanseatic cities of Bremen and Lübeck into the planning. As the terms Hamburg and Hansestädte begin with the same letters the abbreviation HaFraBa could be maintained.
In 1930, for each city, detailed plannings of the linkage to the Hafraba was presented in summaries subtitled "Städte an den Hafrabastraßen" (English: Cities on the roads of Hafraba) by J. F. Amberger (Heidelberg), Adolf Elsaesser (directeur of urban planning of Mannheim), Dr. Theodor Krebs (Darmstadt), Maurer (Mainz), Dr. Rehorn (chief of traffic of Kassel) and Carl Thalenhorst (senator of building authorities of Bremen) in the newspaper Hafraba-Mitteilungsblatt.[2]
As the public bodies saw no need to this project a toll system was planned to provide financing. The calculations resulted in the following prices:
- one car including the driver: 3 Pfennig per kilometre
- each additional person: 1 Pfennig per kilometre
- one truck: 2 Pfennig per kilometre
- loading: 0.5 Pfennig per ton and per kilometre
At first, the project was rejected by the Nazis. After the takeover of Hitler the plannings where partially adopted; the name of the association was changed to Gesellschaft zur Vorbereitung der Reichsautobahnen (English: Society for the Preparation of the Autobahnen of the Third Reich).
Literature
- Vahrenkamp, Richard (June 23, 2010), The German Autobahn 1920-1945: Hafraba Visions and Mega Projects (pdf) (in German), Lohmar/Köln: Josef Eul Verlag GmbH, ISBN 978-3-89936-940-3, DNB 1005500924, retrieved August 12, 2010
External links
- Die vergessene Autobahn bei Hannover by Michael Grube on geschichtsspuren.de (German)
- Die Reichsautobahnen by Volker Wichmann (German)
- Geschichte des Autobahnbaus aus bayerischer Sicht by the Bavarian Ministry of the Interior (German)
- Working Papers in History of Mobility by Richard Vahrenkamp (University of Kassel) (German)
References
- ↑ "Development of the HaFraBa" (pdf) (in German). German Federal Archives. 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
- ↑ "Die Strasse – Index of Hafraba-Mitteilungsblatt 1928–1931" (in German). Prof. Dr. Richard Vahrenkamp, University of Kassel. 2006. Retrieved June 23, 2011.