The freeway between Dresden and Weißenberg was thus passable in July 1940, even if in part only on one lane.
East of Weißenberg, construction work began in 1939/1940, but was discontinued shortly thereafter. The measures were mainly related to bridge construction (e.G., the construction of a new bridge).B. For the planned connection points Weißenberg and Nieder Seifersdorf). Between Nieder Seifersdorf and today's tunnel through the Königshainer Berge, however, earthworks were also underway (z.B. South of Oberwald, the route that was cleared at the time is still clearly visible today with the first earthworks).
All in all, 16 km of the 2 km section between Dresden and Weißenberg were missing. Directional lane.
On 19. April 1945 the German Wehrmacht blew up the Spree Valley Bridge between Bautzen-West and Bautzen-East, so that after the war only the sections between Dresden and the AS Bautzen-West as well as Bautzen-East to Weißenberg were usable.
1945 – 1989
On 15. In July 1959, the 5.4 km of the Dresden – Bautzen carriageway between Großröhrsdorf and Röderbrunn could be put into operation after completion. Due to the interruption of the freeway between Bautzen-Ost. Bautzen-West, the attractiveness of the use of the section Bautzen-East – Weißenberg was also limited. In 1965, this led to the decision by the government of the former GDR to decommission this section as a road and to earmark it for the storage of a so-called grain state reserve. As a result, 66 grain storage buildings were built in a row on this section of the highway starting in 1966. The total of 16 kilometers of the A 4 between Bautzen-Ost and Weißenberg were also fenced off and thus no longer accessible to the public.
In the period 1945 – 1989 the condition of the freeway Dresden – Bautzen deteriorated successively. Due to inadequate construction, the increase in traffic loads and the lack of maintenance (until 1990, no fundamental renovation took place in any section of the entire route between Dresden and Bautzen), the freeway was in a catastrophic condition over large sections in the 1980s. The consequence was that large sections had to be signposted with speed limits down to 20 km/h.
The only major construction project worth mentioning was the new construction of the Spree Valley Bridge, direction Dresden – Bautzen (1973 to 1977). This was necessary in order to transport the concrete slabs produced in Bautzen-Teichnitz directly across the highway to the construction of the Bautzen-Gesundbrunnen residential area. Even then, the city was not able to accommodate this traffic. This meant that the section between Bautzen-West. Bautzen-East was usable from 1977 onwards.
Further deficits of the freeway facility between Dresden and Bautzen were the provisional connection of the south side of the Ohorn junction with a direct connection of the local road to the freeway. In the early 1970s, there were multiple efforts here to change this state of affairs. However, the project was never completed due to the economic weakness of the GDR.
A "route peculiarity was the overpass in the area of the Luchsenburg, which was started before 1945 but not completed. Here stood a bridge shell without the necessary road ramps. Instead, there was an at-grade crosswalk over the freeway for pedestrians and bicyclists. Since the structure was exposed to the weather for years without protection, it became a hazard for passing freeway traffic at the end of the 1980s, so that it was decided in 1991 to demolish the ruined structure without replacement for safety reasons.
A problematic area of the line maintenance was the pavement area between Prischwitz and Bautzen. This showed damage in the pavement area, mainly due to the construction and the water permeability, which made it necessary to reduce the speed to 20 km/h in some areas. Under the small paving slab, a clean layer of approx. 10 cm of gravel on a lean concrete base layer. Due to the gradient conditions, the ingress of surface water mixed with de-icing salt led to corrosion of the sub-concrete and thus in part to load-bearing capacity damage, which manifested itself in warping of the road surface.
In 1989, it was therefore almost impossible to drive the maximum speed of 100 km/h permitted in the GDR between Dresden and Bautzen. That is, due to the condition of the roadway, an almost continuous speed restriction was ordered. As a result of the poor condition of the autobahn, traffic diverted to the parallel B 6 Dresden – Bischofswerda – Bautzen.