the Rodaborn rest area even was a cobblestone road, later paved over by the East German authorities until being replaced by concrete in the 1980s. Until the introduction of a new numbering system in 1974, the southern part was known as the West German A 3. After reunification, the continuous six-lane expansion of the A 9 from the Potsdam junction to the Nuremberg interchange was tackled as an important transport project German unit No. 12. With a traffic load of up to 50,000 vehicles per day near Bayreuth in 1990, the four-lane route was close to the capacity limit. As part of the six-lane expansion, the new route was relocated in some sections, as the old road has gradients of sometimes over seven percent and tight curve radii. For example, in the area of Münchberg south of Hof a viaduct was built to avoid the guidance of the highway through a fog valley, especially because in this section on 19 October 1990 a heavy pile-up with ten dead and numerous seriously injured had occurred. West of Bad Berneck in the Fichtelgebirge led the old carriageway on a bridge in the middle of the village Lanzendorf. This very stressful condition for the residents was eliminated with the new track construction; Today, the highway runs east of the village. Even before the expansion, the motorway church Himmelkron was built directly on the old carriageway and consecrated on 6 October 1996. The church building is therefore today a bit off the new route. The course was also changed at the connection point Trockau (43). The new route runs slightly east of the old one. The formerly very steep and extremely winding Trockauer Berg was defused by the laying of the route. At Hienberg between the junctions Hormersdorf (47) and Schnaittach (48), there are always different routes for the two lanes. The separation of the lanes was maintained in the six lane expansion, but the course changed. The rest stop Hienberg, which lay on the mountain of the same name, does not exist anymore. In 2001, the six-lane expansion, with the exception of three sections, was completed. The 120 million DM expensive conversion between the junctions Bayreuth-North and -Süd, which included a 320 -meter-long enclosure and noise barriers, dragged itself into the year 2006. After its completion, there were only in Thuringia track sections of the A 9 with four lanes without hard shoulder.