ERLANGEN A73

The Bundesautobahn 73 (abbreviation: A 73) is a German highway connecting the southern Thuringian city of Suhl with the central Franconian city of Nuremberg. In its Franconian area of origin and development, and particularly in its Nuremberg section which is not dedicated as a freeway, the road is known as Frankenschnellweg (FSW). The A73 begins at the Suhl interchange (A71) and initially runs through Coburg and Lichtenfels to Bamberg. The Suhl-Lichtenfels section was built as part of the German Unity Transport Project No. 16 and has been passable without interruption since September 5, 2008. The new line cost around 794 million euros. It has a land requirement of 1557 hectares, consisting of 590 hectares of traffic areas and 967 hectares of compensation areas. Between Schleusingen and Coburg-Nord and between Bamberg and Erlangen, the A 73 runs parallel and close to the B 4 and the old section of the B 4 respectively, partially replacing it. The local bavarian Authorities decided to enlarge for 280m the width of the motorway A73 in Erlangen to face the increased amount of cars driving in the last years.

Maccaferri through his local partner BECO Bermüller proposed a reinforced soil structure made by modular elements of Green Terramesh 70°. The typical section was 7 steps of 0,76m, at a total height of 5,32m. One of the reasons for the choice was the possibility to cover the visible surfaces with green natural vegetation, in order to integrate well the structures in the landscape, but during the construction, the soil appeared to be too sandy and of bad quality. The contractor then decided to fill the front with stones in order not to have erosion problems due to rainwater flow.