‘Overfly’ being built in Nuremberg/”Overfly” wird in Nürnberg gebaut

According to the Fürther/Nürnberger Nachrichten, something called an ‘overfly’ is to be built to ease the traffic situation on the motorways around Nuremberg.

I am still trying to work out what this is. It cannot be a hoverfly (Schwebefliege)
and it can’t be a flyover (see the ‘temporary’ flyover at Gallows Corner in Romford that has long since ceased to be temporary).

They are widening one road and also rebuilding an autobahn junction, using this overfly, which is also called a ‘direct ramp’ (Direktrampe). This will take lorries from the A73 to the A6.

The more I think about it, the more I think it means ‘bypass’. But of course, the word ‘Bypass’ is already used in German in the medical sense, so perhaps they don’t realize it has a wider meaning. ‘Umgehungsstraße’ means a road bypassing a town, and this overfly is probably bypassing a motorway junction. It’s rather reminiscent of the German ‘Pullunder’ (something with shorter sleeves than a pullover?)

I found another Overfly, one that didn’t need to be built in Cologne. This is defined as (text from FDP site):

bq. Schließlich fordert die FDP-Fraktion, dass die Pläne zur Errichtung eines sogenannten Overflys, das ist ein Brückenbauwerk, das im Falle eines Ausbaus des Godorfer Hafens die Stadtteile Godorf und Sürth vor den entstehenden Verkehrsbelastungen durch Lkw schützen soll, aufrechterhalten werden.

bq. (…what is known as a overfly, a bridge structure – if the Godorf harbour were expanded, this is intended to protect the districts of Godorf and Sürth from the heavy lorry traffic that would develop…)

So this would mean a raised structure, a flyover, for lorries only.

7 thoughts on “‘Overfly’ being built in Nuremberg/”Overfly” wird in Nürnberg gebaut

  1. Makes one want to despair Margaret doesn’t it? … yet another example of Germans trying to impress by using English and failing dismally…..
    Paul

  2. Correct use: as a neutral country wanting a second UN resolution a year ago to legitimizise a unilateral invasion/’War’ on Iraq, Austria wouldn’t let US jets fly over (überfliegen) its airspace on the way over.

  3. Yes, indeed – also ‘wouldn’t let them overfly’, as a verb.

    Austria is not free of this new German term:

    ‘Um auch Richtung Norden (“Brünner Korridor”) eine höchstrangige Verkehrsverbindung
    herzustellen, ist kurzfristig die ohnehin notwendige Niveaufreimachung der B 302
    (“Overfly”) herzustellen.’
    http://www.pgo.wien.at/pdf/NO_Umfahrung_Wien.pdf

    I also discovered (Collins dictionary) that flyover can also be called an overpass, and that it is also the more common American term for fly-past.

  4. Maybe they mean something like a bus lane? A special truck lane? FWIW, leo dictionary defines fly-over as “Hochstrasse” or “Überführung” (Brücke). Would that make it an overpass? (confirming what you found in Collins). From Ernst Wörterbuch: Überführung = overbridge, overhead crossing, overpass; Überführungen = bridges, elevated roads, and flyovers

  5. If Unterführung is an underpass then, logically, overpass is the opposite. Though earthbound, I daren’t say that overpass is a non-starter. In fact, it Googles over 300,000 times – and not only in the US.

  6. @Michele: The weird thing is that I could not get a clear idea of what this Overfly is from the newspaper article. But it must be known to someone. Google didn’t help much either. I can’t really comment on the terminology until I see at least a picture.

    All I can say is that the flyover I know carries a road over another road in a sort of arc (a bridge would fit the definition too), and that agrees with Collins English dictionary – I also would not use the hyphen, though I see Ernst has it. Perhaps you have the old Ernst? The new one is similar, but it doesn’t distinguish singular and plural. It has two meanings, and I can’t quite separate them:
    1. (Bau, Verkehr)/overpass, overhead crossing, elevated crossing, overbridge
    2. (Straßen-, Bahnüberführung)(Bau, Verkehr)fly-over (GB)

    I wouldn’t trust LEO in itself, but I think you’re probably right that Hochstraße would be a good German term. According to Gelbrich and Reinwaldt (good building dictionary, only first ed.), Hochstraße can mean an elevated railway, but it can also mean ‘flyover, (Am) overpass (Autobahnüberführung)’
    @AMM overpass and flyover are synonyms
    Google:
    overpass site:uk 2,760
    flyover site:uk 11,400

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