A4 Autobahn, Germany

The A4 in Germany is an autobahn (Bundesautobahn 4) that traverses the country in an east-to-west direction. The motorway is actually in two halves with a gap in the middle, a carryover from when the country was split into East and West Germany. The western half is 134km (83 miles) long and the eastern half is 381km, 237 miles long.

The project to close the gap completely and make the route totally integrated is still in early planning stages, although smaller projects are underway to improve and extend the road in the right direction.

The majority of the A4 forms part of European route A40. The A4 has part of its origins as a military highway constructed between 1934 and 1937; the concrete paving is still apparent on these sections but is being replaced.

ROUTE

The western A4 begins just north of Aachen, where the A76 intersection enters Germany from Holland. The road then forms the southern portion of the Cologne Ring and comes to an end near Olpe.

The eastern section begins at the Kirchheim A7 intersection and then continues through Eisenach, Erfurt, Weimar, Jena, Gera, Chemnitz and Dresden to Görlitz, here it crosses the border into Poland and continues as the Polish section of the A4.

GOTHA TO EISENACH SECTION

The Gotha to Eisenach section of the A4 will be a 45km extension and refurbishment constructed under a public-private-partnership (PPP) project. The road is being constructed by a consortium led by HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions.

The road will be operated by a concession company called Via Solutions Thüringen, which has been granted a 30-year concession to operate the section as a toll entity. Via Solutions Thüringen GmbH & Co KG consists of HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions (50%) and Vinci SA of France (50%). The financial advisors are Freshfields and Deutsche Bank.

The value of the project is $478m, consisting of $427m debt and $51m equity. Financial close occurred in October 2007 and the Federal Government is providing start-up funding of $49m. The construction consortium consists of HOCHTIEF Construction (33%) and Eurovia AG (33%), Strassing-Limes Bau GmbH (17%) and Josef Rädlinger Bauunternehmen GmbH (17%).

Construction started in October 2007 and is scheduled to be completed by March 2011. The work for the project will involve the construction of road running from Gotha in Thüringen to the Hessen-Thüringen border.

This will include the replacement of a 22km section of the A4 by a new 23km six-lane section, bypassing Eisenach and the Horselberge nature reserve, alongside the refurbishment of a further 22km of the existing six-lane road via an operation and maintenance contract.

Lenders for the project include Dexia Group, Bank of Scotland and the European Investment Bank.