AVUS, Former race circuit and motorway in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, Germany
AVUS is a motorway in the Berlin district of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, running from north to south for about nine kilometers (five and a half miles) and linking the western city area with the Grunewald forest. Two roadways run parallel to each other through wooded surroundings and are divided by a central reservation that once served as a return lane for races in earlier decades.
Construction began before the First World War in 1913 and was completed only in 1921, after war and inflation interrupted the works. In the following decades, numerous races took place there until the circuit was finally converted into a regular motorway in the 1990s.
The name stands for Automobil-Verkehrs- und Übungsstraße, meaning automobile traffic and practice road, and drivers now use it as an ordinary motorway through the western part of the city. Those who once came as spectators watched racing cars from the grandstands, while today only daily traffic fills the view.
The motorway is best traveled by car, but cyclists and pedestrians can use the parallel forest paths to experience the route from the outside. Those who want to see the former northern curve should visit the area near the trade fair grounds, where remnants of the old banking are still visible.
At the northern end once stood a wooden grandstand that could hold tens of thousands of spectators and was filled to capacity during races. Today, only a memorial plaque recalls that era, while traffic flows endlessly past and hardly anyone thinks of the roaring engines from the past.
The community of curious travelers
AroundUs brings together thousands of curated places, local tips, and hidden gems, enriched daily by 60,000 contributors worldwide.
