Because of the winter weather, traffic jams stretching for kilometers have formed in Rhineland-Palatinate. It is particularly critical on the A3 towards Cologne.
According to the Montabaur motorway police, trucks often stand sideways and get stuck on mountains. Traffic is backed up for around 20 kilometers in the direction of Cologne. The fire department has set up a total of nine contact points between Neustadt (Wied) and Bad Honnef. It offers hot drinks and snacks to drivers stuck in traffic. The Neuwied district has set up a crisis team, the THW has been alerted and is supposed to have blankets and food ready on the A3.
The police urgently ask you to avoid the A3 and not to drive onto it until the situation has calmed down. Truck drivers who are currently unable to drive to a rest area should move to the hard shoulder to allow clearing and gritting vehicles and other emergency vehicles to pass.
“500 meters in four hours”
Michael Hoffmann has been stuck in a traffic jam on the A3 near Neustadt (Wied) for hours. He has to go to Hagen.
SWR
He only managed “500 meters in four hours,” says Michael Hoffmann, who is driving his car towards Hagen. He’s been stuck in a traffic jam for four hours – he’s feeling very bad. Also “my tank worries me a bit, but there’s a gas station coming.”
“It’s a standstill here right now,” reports SWR reporter Michael Eiden, who is standing on the A3 in the middle of the snowstorm. The opposite direction – i.e. towards Frankfurt – is now free again at this point. There are also traffic jams in other places on the A3, for example near Lohmar in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Asbach Volunteer Fire Department is ready
A few residents from the neighboring town reported that they had never experienced such traffic jams due to snowfall. The volunteer fire department from the municipality of Asbach also joined the SWR team on a bridge and set up a light pole, reports Eiden. “They make sure that they are ready here with direct access to the highway and that they can be on site quickly if an accident occurs.” Firefighters would also go to drivers and point out the food.
The fire brigade is standing by on the A3
SWR
It is still difficult to predict when the situation will ease. The recovery of the trucks is apparently difficult. “It’s getting cold and you can only hope that people have refueled and have enough food and warm drinks, because it’s still -2 degrees here,” said the SWR reporter.
Current traffic reports