The Bergstraße ("Mountain Road") is ancient trade route in the south-west of Germany. The route and the area around it is a mountainous "theme route" running north–south along the western edge of the Odenwald forest in southern Hesse and northern Baden-Württemberg. The route passes through the Bergstraße administrative district, and independent viticultural regions of Hessische Bergstraße and Badische Bergstraße. Between the cities of Heidelberg and Weinheim the Upper Rhine Railway Company (OEG) tram route runs alongside. Route The route goes almost straight from north to south at the spot where the Rhine lowlands meet the western edge of the Odenwald. The name comes from the road's route along the foot of the mountains, the Rhine lowlands once being too damp to build a road there. The route mostly follows the modern B3 road. It begins in Darmstadt and, after passing through Eberstadt, splits into the "Old Bergstraße" and the "New Bergstraße", which goes somewhat further to the west. The two routes meet again at Zwingenberg. In Weinheim-Lützelsachsen an old and a new Bergstraße once more form, the new one passing west of the old route as far as Heidelberg-Handschuhsheim, where the two meet once more. The route carrying on after the Neckar from Heidelberg to Wiesloch is still usually known as the Bergstraße, even though the type of country and climate typical of the Bergstraße is no longer as pronounced. The Bergstraße passes through three rural districts and two urban districts: Darmstadt, Landkreis Darmstadt-Dieburg, Kreis Bergstraße, Heidelberg and the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis. The northern part belongs to Hesse and the southern part to Baden. The border between these two Länder is between Heppenheim and Laudenbach. The Bergstraße was used as a trading route as far back as Roman times. The name bergstrasen was first recorded in 1165. A Latinised form of the name (strata montana) did not arise from the Romans but during the Renaissance. Older names are: strata publica (795), platea montium (819) and montana platea (1002). The route has changed slightly in places across the centuries. In 1955 traces of the old paved Roman road were discovered during work on the drains in Heppenheim. They were moved to the Ferdinand Feuerbach Unit (on the corner of Karlstraße and Karl-Marx-Straße) and can still be seen there today. They cover an area of about 20 m². Places along the route The Bergstraße travels through the following towns (from north to south): Darmstadt