History of AutobahnIn German, Autobahn refers to a major high-speed road which has full control of access and can be availed by motor vehicles which are capable of driving at least at 60 km/h (37mph). Autobahn is synonymous to the English motorway or freeway.Though there are no speed limits, the recommended average speed that is to be maintained on a German autobahn is 130km/h (81mph), and it is the same for Austrian autobahns as well. When it comes to Swiss autobahns however, the general speed hovers around 120km/h (75 mph). In most countries, and as in Germany, the German autobahn is always referred to specifically, and the plural of the word is Autobahnen. However, in English, the segment ‘auto’ is pronounced in the same way as other English words such as ‘automobile’ are pronounced. Since the building and maintenance of autobahns are always carried out by the federal government, the official name for autobahns in Germany is Bundesautobahn (BAB) (Federal Motorway). The first of its kind came into being during the 1920s. In the 1930s, during Hitler’s rule, these were known as Motorways of the Reich, or Reichsautobahn.Autobahns are no different from other major European motorways when it comes to having multiple lanes in each separate direction. These lanes are separated from each other by a central barrier. Then there are grade-separated junctions, with access limited only to specific kinds of motor vehicles such a bmw cars. Konrad Adenauer (Lord Mayor of Cologne), who was also going to be the future Chancellor of West Germany, was the one who opened the first motorway of this kind between Cologne and Bonn after it was completed in 1931. The unveiling ceremony took place on 6 August 1932. These roads were then known as Kraftfahrtstrae (lit. automobile road). It was a road which had no crossings and to be used solely by cars and motorcycles. Common horse drawn carts and pedestrians were supposed to stay away from it. Though some suggest that the Nazis were the ones who came up with the conception of the Autobahn, it is believed that it is only a myth.The idea for the construction of autobahn was born as early as during the heydays of the Weimar Republic. However, it was only the AVUS project in Berlin which took off as most of the other projects suffered from slow construction speed, dearth of political support and economic problems. One such project was HaFraBa which planned a road meant only for bmw cars, which stretched from Hamburg in the North via central Frankfurt am Main to Basel in Switzerland. The construction procedure, though it carried on till 1940s, was completed only partly till it got stalled by World War II.