Bundesautobahn 3

Bundesautobahn 3 (translates from German as Federal Motorway 3, short form Autobahn 3, abbreviated as BAB 3 or A 3) is an autobahn in Germany running from the Germany-Netherlands border near Wesel in the northwest to the Germany-Austria border near Passau.

Major cities along its total length of 778 km (483 mi) include Oberhausen, Duisburg, Düsseldorf, Leverkusen, Cologne, Wiesbaden, Frankfurt, Würzburg, Nuremberg and Regensburg. The A 3 is a major connection between the Rhine-Ruhr area and southern Germany, resulting in heavy traffic. Consequently, large parts have three lanes (plus a hard shoulder) in each direction, including a 300 km (187.5 mi) section between Oberhausen and Aschaffenburg.

The A3 passes close to Frankfurt Airport.

The A 3 begins at the border crossing Elten in North Rhine-Westphalia as a four-lane continuation of the Dutch A 12. Until Oberhausen the highway runs on the right bank of the Lower Rhine past the cities Emmerich, Wesel and Dinslaken and reaches the Ruhrgebiet. Beginning at the Kreuz Oberhausen with A 516 and A 2, the A 3 is a three-lane freeway in both directions. A 3 runs parallel to the A 59 between Dinslaken and Düsseldorf before bypassing the latter to the east. Outside of Düsseldorf the A 3 runs parallel to the A 59, the latter of which forming an alternative route between the cities Düsseldorf and Cologne. From Leverkusen, where the A 3 (Fehmarn-Saarbrücken) intersects the A 1, the A 3 forms the eastern part of the Cologne Ring. Due to the very high volume of traffic, this section is often congested, which is why a section between Cologne-Mülheim and the Heumar triangle has been expanded to eight lanes. Between Cologne-Ost and Heumarer Dreieck, the A 4 (Aachen-Olpe) runs on a common route with the A 3. After Cologne, the motorway reverts to six lanes and reaches Siegburg, where it intersects with A 560 at the interchange Bonn / Siegburg. The landscape becomes rather hilly soon after, winding through the Siebengebirge and the Westerwald and entering Rhineland-Palatinate.

The motorway is marked by numerous gradients around this point, the best known of which are in the Hallerbachtal and Elzer Berg. Between Cologne and Frankfurt am Main the A 3 runs largely parallel to the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. At the Dreieck Dernbach, not far from Koblenz, the A48 branches off to Trier. The A 3 then reaches Montabaur is connected before the Limburg area and the motorway continues into Hesse, after which the A 3 continues as eight lanes. Then the route leads over the Taunus into the plain of the Rhine-Main area. At the Wiesbadener Kreuz the A 3 intersects the 66, which connects the two largest cities of the region, Frankfurt am Main and the provincial capital Wiesbaden. After crossing the Main on the Mainbrücke Raunheim, the A67 branches off from the A 3, forming a route to Stuttgart as well as to Switzerland. Immediately thereafter, the A 3 crosses the grounds of Frankfurt Airport. Two runway bridges connect the northwest runway to the north of the highway. Also, the airport's ICE station is just north of the A 3, which cross pedestrians on a bridge to get from the station to the terminals. Afterwards the A 3 intersects the A 5 at Germany's most used interchange, the Frankfurter Kreuz (Kassel-Basel).

The A 3 passes through a largely forested area until Aschaffenburg, passing the city of Frankfurt am Main proper to the south with eight lanes; the Frankfurt-Süd junction, which is located near the Commerzbank-Arena, is the only direct link with Frankfurt. It intersects with A 661 near Offenbach, continuing from this point as six lanes towards Offenbach am Main, Hanau and Seligenstadt, which are also connected with one interchange. As the A 3 enters Bavaria, it intersects with the A 45, crossing the Main on the Mainbrücke Stockstadt and Aschaffenburg and the suburbs Goldbach and Hösbach. There are two overhead noise barriers on this part with a length of 2.2 kilometers altogether.

Behind the third Main Crossing on the Main Bridge Bettingen the highway runs rather briefly (approximately six kilometers) through Baden-Württemberg. Shortly before Helmstadt, the highway is again six lanes and bypasses Würzburg to the south, after the triangle Würzburg-West. South of Würzburg the A 3 crosses the Main for the fourth time. The A 3 then intersects the A 7 (Flensburg-Füssen), after which the A 3 switches to four lanes. It then crosses the Main for a fifth time and continues towards Nuremberg. This section leads through the Steigerwald and has a high traffic volume. Passing Höchstadt and Erlangen, Nuremberg is bypassed to the northeast. Outside of Nuremberg, the A 3 intersects with the A 9 (Berlin-Munich) and the A 6 (Saarbrücken-Prague).

After Nuremberg, the A 3 passes Neumarkt-Oberpfalz, crosses the Franconian Alps and reaches the Danube valley at Regensburg. Towards Passau, the highway runs parallel to the river past Straubing and Deggendorf (A 92 to Munich), traversing through the foothills of the Bavarian Forest. Outside of Passau, the route turns south, passes through the Neuburg Forest and crosses the Inn, the border between Germany and Austria. A 3 continues on the Austrian side is the Innkreisautobahn A 8, which continues to Linz.