The road network of Essen consists of over 3,200 streets, which in total have a length of roughly 1,600 km (994 mi).
Three Autobahnen touch Essen territory, most importantly the Ruhrschnellweg (Ruhr expressway, A 40), which runs directly through the city, dividing it roughly in half. In a west-eastern direction, the A 40 connects the Dutch city of Venlo with Dortmund, running through the whole Ruhr area. It is one of the arterial roads of the Ruhr area (> 140,000 vehicles/day) and suffers from heavy congestion during rush hours, which is why many people in the area nicknamed it Ruhrschleichweg (Ruhr crawling way). A tunnel was built in the 1970s, when the then-Bundesstra�e was upgraded to motorway standards, so that the A 40 is hidden from public view in the inner-city district near the main railway station.
In the north, the A 42 briefly touches Essen territory, serving as an interconnection between the neighboring cities of Oberhausen and Gelsenkirchen and destinations beyond.
A segment of the A 52 connects Essen with the more southern region around D�sseldorf. On Essen territory, the A 52 runs from the southern boroughs near M�lheim an der Ruhr past the fairground and then merges with the Ruhrschnellweg at the Autobahndreieck Essen-Ost junction east of the city center.
With the A 40/A 52 in the southern parts of the city and the A 42 in the north, there is a gap in the motorway system often leading to congestion on streets leading from the central to the northern boroughs. An extension of the A 52 to connect the Essen-Ost junction with the A 42 to close this gap is considered urgent; it has been planned for years but not yet been realized � most importantly due to the high-density areas this extension would lead through, resulting in high costs and concerns with the citizens.
As with most communes in the Ruhr area, local transport is carried out by a local, publicly-owned company for transport within the city, the DB Regio
