Frankfurt interchange (A3/A5)

Traffic at the bottleneck (riding along, key F)

1. 01

   driving

2. 02

   stuck in a jam

3. 03

   the tailback slowly clears from its end (model)

What is shown – why – for whom

Facilities and areas in the model

• Frankfurt interchange

  Where the A3 and A5 cross, many vehicles change motorway – the weaving section is the bottleneck. Utilisation as on the map (model).

• A3 from Cologne

  Tailback before the interchange: more freight, holidays or snow make it grow.

• A5 from Kassel

  North-south axis Hamburg–Basel: trucks between the seaports and southern Germany.

Processes in the model

How a transport region can use the model

• Operations and planning

  In the motorway disruption one lane remains and the detour loads the neighbouring routes. The model shows how the tailback grows and how slowly it clears again.

  対象Transport planning, logistics companies

• Onboarding and training

  Ride along with key F: a vehicle drives, gets stuck in the jam and sees the tailback slowly clear from its end. One line says what is happening.

  対象Dispatch, logistics trainees

• Local authorities and economic development

  Interchange and airport in one picture: more freight, holidays or snow make the tailback grow. That explains why there are so many jams here.

  対象Local authorities, the region, chambers

• Schools, universities, museums

  What is a weaving section, and why does it become a bottleneck? The model shows it at the interchange itself – also as a demo without anyone at the controls.

  対象Schools, universities, museums and exhibitions

• Public communication

  The ‘Motorway closed’ scenario shows at four times the speed how a closure works and the detour fills the neighbouring routes – and one tap brings back today.

  対象Public relations, associations

What you can change

What the model gives a transport region

• 01

  Congestion explained, not lamented

  The model shows the cause – the weaving section – and the effect – the tailback – at the same place.

• 02

  One interchange in the network

  Utilisation is the same figure as at the bottleneck on the Germany map. What happens in the network arrives at the interchange.

• 03

  Disruptions without damage

  Motorway closure, snow and ice hit this site hardest. Trigger them, then return to today.

• 04

  Road as a lever

  Here 84 % of the volume goes by road. The transport cost and tolls control shows what a shift to rail and water changes.

• 05

  For talks and big screens

  Runs in the browser and on large projections, with a demo that starts without anyone at the controls.

• 

  Leipzig/Halle · air cargo hub

  A night hub for air cargo as a walkable model: about 60 freighters a night on the 3,600-m south runway, the apron, the sorting halls and the A14 at the Schkeuditz interchange.

• 

  Großbeeren · freight village Berlin South

  The freight village on the Berlin ring as a walkable model: distribution centres for retail and food, an intermodal terminal for goods from Hamburg, and the expressway the capital’s supply depends on.

• 

  Munich · Riem transhipment station

  The transhipment station in the east of Munich as a walkable model: container trains from Hamburg, Bremerhaven and Italy, gantry cranes between train, yard and truck, and the A94 next door.

• 

  Lehrte · MegaHub

  A train-to-train transfer facility as a walkable model: six tracks of 720 m each, three gantry cranes, driverless transporters – and freight trains regrouped without shunting.

• 

  Germany · freight flows and nodes

  All of Germany as a map of blocks: 27 nodes, 55 freight flows as bands of light, eleven bottlenecks with traffic lights. Controls, seasons, disruptions and ten scenarios change every flow at once, compared with today.

• 

  Hamburg · Container Terminal Altenwerder

  An automated container terminal as a walkable model: up to 14 container gantries, driverless transport vehicles, the block yard, a rail station for trains up to 740 m and the truck gate.

• 

  Bremerhaven · car terminal and river quay

  Bremerhaven as a walkable model: almost five kilometres of river quay for the largest container ships, straddle carriers, car trains and parking for about 95,000 vehicles at the mouth of the Weser.

• 

  Wilhelmshaven · JadeWeserPort and LNG terminal

  Germany’s only deep-water port as a walkable model: the container quay on the Jade with straddle carriers and rail, plus the floating LNG terminal, a tank farm and the crude-oil pipeline to the refineries.