Bundesstraße 5

The Bundesstraße 5 or B5 is a German federal highway running in a northwesterly to southeasterly direction from the Danish border near Niebüll to Frankfurt (Oder). It provides a direct route for motorists traveling between Berlin and Hamburg. In Berlin B5 forms among others the following squares and streets Heerstraße, Theodor-Heuss-Platz, Kaiserdamm, Straße des 17. Juni, Großer Stern, Unter den Linden, Karl-Liebknecht-Straße, Alexanderplatz, Karl-Marx-Allee, Frankfurter Tor, and Frankfurter Allee. The section north of Hamburg is partially paralleled by Bundesautobahn 23.

History

The numbering of Bundesstraße 5 follows the numbering of highways, then called in German: Fernverkehrsstraßen (literally in English: far traffic streets), in the Weimar Republic, issued on 17 January 1932. The Fernverkehrsstraße 5, or simply 5, however, continued from Frankfurt upon Oder (today as Polish DK29) via Crossen upon Oder, (today as Polish DK32) via Grünberg in Silesia, (today as Polish S3) via Lüben, (today as Polish DK36) via Parchwitz, (today as Polish DK94) via Breslau, Ohlau, Brieg, Oppeln in Silesia, Peiskretscham, (today as Polish DW901) via Gleiwitz (today as Polish DK88) to Beuthen in Upper Silesia.