Breite Strasse in Potsdam - Bundesstrasse 2 and 273. The old GDR signs have a different font and size from the Federal signs, although both appeared on a yellow rectangle as shown here.

Photo taken 10/01.

Looking East on Landesberger Allee at the corner of Weissenseer Weg. Note that GDR gantry signs (for surface streets at least) were white with black arrows. I am not sure about the color of control cities, as many have been replaced. In these, the white cities are original, the yellow ones look much newer.

Photo taken 01/02.

Close up of the previous sign. I think the format for Autobahn signs was about the same, except that blue was used instead of yellow, as with the Federal signs. Note the fine example of GDR industrial construction in the background.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking north on the Weissenseer Weg towards Landesberger Allee. With the change in government, came changes in locations and location names. Note the blanked out section in the middle sign.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking West towards downtown (Mitte) on the Landesberger Allee at Weissenseer Weg.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking east on Landesberger Allee near Siegfried Strasse. The sign on the left is for parking, and the one on the right is for an industrial area.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking west on Landesberger Allee at the same intersection.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking west on Landesberger Allee. Original signs for control points are on the far right and left of the gantry.

Photo taken 01/02.

Landesberger Strasse at the Marzahner Bruecke, looking east. Landesberger Strasse meets the Maerkische Allee and Wiesenburger Weg and acts as a short expressway for about a half mile.

Photo taken 01/02.

Next sign in the sequence, this one specifically with the Maerkische Allee (Bundestrasse 158). The road in this area is being overhauled. I expect the signs will be a victim to any improvements in the area.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking west on Landesberger Allee, with the two lanes going right. Unusual as this has a left exit, which is exceedingly rare in Germany. This exception can be explained by the fact that this is not an Autobahn and the interchange was likely designed by the East Germans.

Photo taken 01/02

Looking south on Petersburger Allee before the intersection with Frankfurter Allee. I was lucky to get this picture, as the gantry for a replacement is already up. On the left sign is the original text for Frankfurt an der Oder, with an Autobahn 10 shield placed next to it. Otherwise, the arrows are original and the control points appear to be replacements.

Photo taken 01/02.

Closeup of the previous sign. Here you can make out the original and replacement parts a bit better. The material of the sign looks flimsy, and might be the same kind of plastic laminated cardboard once used in the Trabant, the classic East German car.

Photo taken 01/02.

Looking southwest on Kastanienallee at Schwedter Strasse in Prenzlauer Berg (Berlin). Here area a group of remaining traffic signal from the DDR. Note the shape of the mast, which swoops upwards in an angled curve.

Photo taken 01/02.

At the north corner looking south down Schwedter Strasse. Here is a traffic signal for Kastanienallee with a pedestrian crossing signal. Here you can see the ubiquitous "Ampelmänchen" - or signal man. In the rush to plow over everything reminiscent of East Germany, the West Germans made one of their singular concessions here, keeping the popular figure on signals in the East, as opposed to the sterile, unisex Western variant. That this was as far as the West Germans would go in terms of compromise should give you some idea why many East Germans are bitter about reunification, which some derisively call "The Anschluss" - or the annexation, also the term used when Austria was swallowed up by the Nazis in 1938.

Photo taken 01/02.