<P> The idea for the construction of the autobahn was first conceived in the mid-1920s during the days of the Weimar Republic , but the construction was slow , and most projected sections did not progress much beyond the planning stage due to economic problems and a lack of political support . One project was the private initiative HaFraBa which planned a `` car only road '' crossing Germany from Hamburg in the north via central Frankfurt am Main to Basel in Switzerland . Parts of the HaFraBa were completed in the late 1930s and early 1940s , but construction eventually was halted by World War II . The first public road of this kind was completed in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn and opened by Konrad Adenauer ( Lord Mayor of Cologne and future Chancellor of West Germany ) on 6 August 1932 . Today , that road is the Bundesautobahn 555 . This road was not yet called Autobahn and lacked a center median like modern motorways , but instead was termed a Kraftfahrstraße ( `` motor vehicle road '' ) with two lanes each direction without intersections , pedestrians , bicycles , or animal - powered transportation . </P>
<P> The idea for the construction of the autobahn was first conceived in the mid-1920s during the days of the Weimar Republic , but the construction was slow , and most projected sections did not progress much beyond the planning stage due to economic problems and a lack of political support . One project was the private initiative HaFraBa which planned a `` car only road '' crossing Germany from Hamburg in the north via central Frankfurt am Main to Basel in Switzerland . Parts of the HaFraBa were completed in the late 1930s and early 1940s , but construction eventually was halted by World War II . The first public road of this kind was completed in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn and opened by Konrad Adenauer ( Lord Mayor of Cologne and future Chancellor of West Germany ) on 6 August 1932 . Today , that road is the Bundesautobahn 555 . This road was not yet called Autobahn and lacked a center median like modern motorways , but instead was termed a Kraftfahrstraße ( `` motor vehicle road '' ) with two lanes each direction without intersections , pedestrians , bicycles , or animal - powered transportation . </P>
when did germany 's ' autobahn ' open for the first time
when did germany 's ' autobahn ' open for the first time
6 August 1932
6 August 1932