is a motorway in Germany. It branches off the A 3 at the Würzburg-West triangle and ends near the border with Switzerland.
The oldest part of the A 81 between the Weinsberg intersection (A 6) near Heilbronn and Dreieck Leonberg (A 8) near Stuttgart was finished in the years 1938 to 1940. This section included the first tunnel built for an autobahn, the first Engelberg tunnel near Leonberg. When Weinsberg-Leonberg was upgraded to 3+3 lanes in the 1970s, the tunnel with its two lanes each and steep grades (up to 6%) became something of a bottleneck. In 1999 a new Engelberg tunnel was opened.
Original plans called for the A 81 to be continued northwards skirting the north-west of Würzburg to join up with the A 7, but these plans were later abandoned. Instead, the A 81 shares a part of the A 8 to the Stuttgart intersection and then continues south on a motorway that was built as A 831 to Gärtringen, where it meets the original line again at a partly finished intersection. As a result of this change of plans, Gärtringen became one of the few exits in the German autobahn network that leave to the left.
Further south, the terrain required some spectacular engineering, including a bridge near Horb that spans 125 m above the Neckar river. Currently, the A 81 ends near Singen.
Exit list
(1) Würzburg-West 3-way interchange (2)Gerchsheim Spitalwald parking area Gerchsheimer Grund parking area Services Kleinraststätte ob der TauberRötensteinbrücke 387 m parking area (3)Tauberbischofsheim Taubertalbrücke 661 m Steinbacher Höhe parking areaMuckbachtalbrücke 330 m Löchle parking areaSchüpfbachtalbrücke 280 m (4)Ahorn Brombach parking areaBrücke über die Frankenbahn 50 m parking area Lindich parking area (5)Boxberg Rest area Holzspitze Seegrund parking area (6)Osterburken Denzer parking area Großer Wald parking area Services Kleinrastätte JagsttalJagsttalbrücke 889 m (7)Möckmühl Egerten parking areaKochertalbrücke 478 mStraßebrücke 50 m (8)NeuenstadtBrettachtalbrücke 386 m Sulzrain parking areaTunnel Hölzerntunnel 470 mEberbachtalbrücke 310 m Eberbachtal parking area (9) Weinsberg 4-way interchange Bahnstrecke Crailsheim-Heilbronn 60 m (10)Weinsberg / Ellhofen Reisberg parking area Grafenwald parking area (11)Heibronn / Untergruppenbach (12)Ilsfeld Services Wunnenstein (13)Mundelsheim Rest area Kälbling (14)PleidelsheimNeckartalbrücke 410 m (15)Ludwigsburg-Nord Brücke über Frankenbahn 60 m (16)Ludwigsburg-Süd (17) Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen interchange Brücke über Schwarzaldbahn 70 m (18)Stuttgart-Feuerbach Beutenbachtalbrücke 150 m Rest area Engelberg/Gerlinger HöheTunnel Engelbergtunnel 2530 m (19) Dreieck Leonberg 3-way interchange ( )Leonberg-OstFriedensbrücke 320 m Services Sindelfinger Wald Rest area Sommerhofen (20) Stuttgart 4-way interchange (21)Sindelfingen-OstStraßenbrücke 60 m (22)Böblingen-Ost Straßenbrücke 50 mTunnel Lärmschutzdeckel 850 m (under construction until 2026 at least) (23)Böblingen/Sindelfingen (24) Böblingen-Hulb interchange (25)Ehningen Würmtalbrücke 242 m (26)Hildrizhausen (27)Gärtringen Services SchönbuchTunnel Schönbuchtunnel 606 m (28)Herrenberg Ammertalbahn 50 mKochhartgrabenbrücke 252 m Rest area Ziegler/Geyern (29)Rottenburg Rest area Neckarblick/HirtenhausNeckartalbrücke (Weitingen) 918 m (30)Horb am Neckar Talbrücke 90 m parking area (31)Empfingen Mühlbachtalviadukt 582 m parking area (32)Sulz am Neckar Rest area Hasenrain (33)Oberndorf am NeckarTrichtenbachtalbrücke 140 mTalbrücke 130 m parking area parking area Schlichemtalbrücke 240 m Services NeckarburgNeckarburgbrücke 365 m (34)Rottweil Rest area EschachtalEschachtalbrücke 443 mNeckartalbrücke 206 mBahnstrecke Rottweil-Villingen 50 m (35) Villingen-Schwenningen interchange parking area (36)Tuningen parking area (37) Bad Dürrheim 3-way interchange Rest area Räthisgraben Rest area Unterhölzer Wald Donautalbrücke 318 m (38)Geisingen Ziegelbuckbrücke 196 m parking areaImmensitzbrücke 227 m parking areaTalbachbrücke 484 m Services / Motel Im HegauBrudertalbrücke 337 m (39)Engen Bruckried/Klauseneck parking area (40) Hegau 4-way interchange (41)Singen (Hohentwiel) Saubachbrücke 391 mTalbrücke 70 mTunnel Hohentwieltunnel 833 m (42)Hilzingen Riederbachtalbrücke 216 mTunnel Heilsbergtunnel 483 mBrücke über Hochrheinbahn 70 m (43)Gottmadingen
External links