Motorway closure: Another week-long closure of the A40 in the Ruhr area

One of the most important motorways in the Ruhr area will be closed again: whisper asphalt is to be installed on the A40, the so-called Ruhrschnellweg, from Thursday evening (July 23rd/8 p.m.). The busy highway will be closed for almost a week until July 30th. (5:00 a.m.) completely closed. “Diversions are signposted and run over a large area,” said the federal highway company.

The section affected is the section between the Mülheim-Winkhausen junction and the Essen-Ost motorway triangle. Almost exactly this section was closed a good month ago – even for ten days. This resulted in long traffic jams at times on the diversion routes and in the neighboring towns.

Diversion routes are better signposted

The motorway company announced that the diversion routes were better signposted this time. Anyone from Dortmund heading Duisburg is routed from the Essen-Ost motorway triangle via the A52 to the Breitscheid motorway junction and then onto the A3 and – depending on the destination – via the A524/A59 to the Kaiserberg motorway junction or the Duisburg motorway junction.

In the opposite direction from Duisburg towards Dortmund, the official diversion leads through the middle of the city: car and truck drivers should only leave the motorway in Mülheim-Winkhausen and will be routed through the Mülheim and Essen city areas.

Appeal: Do not drive around on your own

Road users should not try to find better detour routes using the navigation system on their own. The signposted diversion “must be followed without fail,” wrote Autobahn GmbH. There will be parking bans along the official diversion routes so that traffic can flow as best as possible. In addition, the closure was deliberately placed during the holiday season, when there are fewer commuters.

During the closure, the road surface will be replaced on a 5.8 kilometer section. To do this, the old asphalt will first be removed from an area of ​​110,000 square meters – the equivalent of around 15 football fields. A new, open-pored asphalt will then be installed. Thanks to the open pores, this so-called whisper asphalt ensures that the noise from the tires is significantly dampened.

A40 will be expanded to six lanes

The A40 is one of the most important motorways in the Ruhr area. According to Autobahn GmbH, 80,000 to 90,000 vehicles travel on the section between Duisburg and Essen every day. The highway should therefore be expanded to six lanes. To achieve this, 16 new bridges will have to be built in the densely populated region. The work on this will take many years to come. As a rule, traffic can be routed past the construction sites.

© dpa-infocom, dpa:260718-930-402875/1