rural area (in terms of Walter Christaller's Central Place Theory). Dautphe and Friedensdorf, it is said in this plan, are the central communities. Furthermore, the greater community is part of the Marburg - Dautphetal - Biedenkopf - (Bad Laasphe) regional development belt. This belt's job is to open up the region, to make possible an exchange of goods and services between middle centres as well as to connect the region to the high centre of Marburg and to the long-distance transportation network. Building on public transport is thus given special importance. Moreover, there exists a local transport and population belt, Dautphetal - Gladenbach, with a regional connective function. Together with Biedenkopf and Breidenbach, Dautphetal is described as a commercial hub. Transport Highway The main road in Dautphetal is Federal Highway (Bundesstraße) 62. This interregionally important road leads from eastern North Rhine-Westphalia (Siegen) through Middle Hesse (Dautphetal, Marburg) and East Hesse (Alsfeld, Bad Hersfeld) to Thuringia (Bad Salzungen) thereby fulfilling the function of interregional transportation axis. Across the community's municipal area, it runs east-west, going through Buchenau. Bundesstraße 453, which is only 15 km long, branches off B 62 in the neighbouring community of Biedenkopf, leading in a southerly direction through the centres of Wolfgruben, Dautphe, Mornshausen and Herzhausen on its way to Gladenbach. The nearest Autobahnen are Bundesautobahn 45 about 30 km away to the west in Dillenburg which goes towards Dortmund in one direction and Frankfurt am Main in the other, Bundesautobahn 485 in the southeast towards Gießen connected by the expresswaylike Bundesstraße 3 at Marburg (about 15 km away), Bundesautobahn 5 about 45 km to the east at Homburg leading to Basel in the south and Hamburg in the north, and Bundesautobahn 49 to the northeast connected by Bundesstraße 3 and leading to Kassel. An extension to this last expressway towards Marburg is planned. However, transport, economic and planning interests on the one hand, and ecological and nature preservation concerns on the other have found themselves at odds, meaning that thus far, no acceptable route has been found for the new roadway. Local public transportation is afforded by the two regional buslines 481 (RKH line 5301) and 491 (RKH line 5356), as well as by four local bus routes, MR-41, MR-52, MR-55 and MR-57, which are meant to improve connections within the community . Railway Local rail transport is afforded by the Obere Lahntalbahn, a Deutsche Bahn line