At this point, a recourse must be allowed to a small trip exactly four years ago. A winter retreat, if you will, from Nuremberg to Weimar, with the idea of refreshing the spirit in a leisurely mode of transportation. The A 73 has existed in a continuous form since 2008, it is not very busy and crosses an incredibly diverse cultural landscape: after the Imperial Castle in Nuremberg, the monument city of Fürth, the Huguenot City of Erlangen, the Forchheim Imperial Palace, the Bamberg World Heritage Site, Banz Monastery, Fourteen Saints and the Coburg Veste – on that day, of course, all of that was disdainfully ignored. Messrs. Schiller and Goethe were waiting, culture enough.
The ride wasn’t that comfortable. At height, pardon me, Strullendorf reported the breakfast tea for the first time. But if you take it easy, the experienced German motorway driver knows the golden rule that is firmly laid down in the “Principles for the choice of location for service facilities”: always after 50, but at the latest after 80 kilometers, a filling station and rest area offers drivers reliable services. So you can knock off water, as the old Weimarer would have said.
Strullendorf is 60 kilometers behind Nuremberg, so it couldn’t be much longer with said facility. But then nothing happened: not in Weichenwasserlos, mileage 80. Not in Niederfullbach. Not in Oberfullbach either. Of course, one could have resorted to an emergency toilet at the rest area, but there is this German rule, it could only be a matter of a few minutes. At Eisfeld, mileage 130, the mood was zero. At Schleusingen they just wanted to open everything, 150 kilometers from Nuremberg.
What is happening there? At that time, they asked the Autobahn Directorate. It was actually unfortunate, they said: such a motorway without a rest area. But 2019 should start with the construction of such. But it wasn’t like that. Now it should be ready at the end of 2022, but only theoretically for the time being. Because in Drossenhausen, the place of choice, resistance is forming. Opponents say that a large area would be sealed off. Result: problems with the surface water.