Daily Difference: Highways

(these probably won't be daily, but the title has Added Alliterative Appeal.)

The first and most obvious difference between the German Autobahn and our own battle-scarred highway system is the famous lack of speed limits on it. This is, like so many famous facts, not technically true. There are parts of the Autobahn that have no speed limit, but also parts with strictly enforced limits. But there are other differences between the two. First, the highway is not the only way to travel around Germany. In places the trains parallel the Autobahn. This means that teh Autobahn is not filled with random drivers just trying to go to the next town like in the US. There are three main classes of drivers on the Autobahn: First, and most numerous, big freight trucks, carrying stuff that the freight trains aren't efficient for, like fresh fruit and vegetables. Then people, like my host family, with stuff to transport or a big family. Third, but by no means rare, are the middle-aged men with good cars who drive places because they like to drive. Often the fast lane is filled with these fellows, and occasionally someone in a black Mercedes or convertible will blow by at insane speeds.

Also, the Autobahn isn't quite speed limit free because of the sheer amount of road work that goes on. From Frankfurt to Vettlehoven, a drive of an hour and a half we passed more than five repair projects. These don't have nearly the effect on traffic that they do in America, though, because the Germans are incredibly clever about rediriecting traffic. They will paint new yellow lines over the white ones to divert traffic from one lane to another, put down little portable stoplights to control traffic, and to provide a route arund one project on a street by my house, they paved a gravel farm road, complete with little paved cutouts so that cars can pass each other! I don't know how much all this costs, but let me put it this way: if they can afford to keep their roads looking like this, it's no wonder that they're not worried about the cost of healthcare!