The motorway is marked by numerous gradients around this point, the best known of which are in the Hallerbachtal and Elzer Berg. Between Cologne and Frankfurt am Main the A 3 runs largely parallel to the Cologne-Frankfurt high-speed rail line. At the "Dreieck Dernbach", not far from Koblenz, the A48 branches off to Trier. The A 3 then reaches Montabaur is connected before the Limburg area and the motorway continues into Hesse, after which the A 3 continues as eight lanes. Then the route leads over the Taunus into the plain of the Rhine-Main area. At the "Wiesbadener Kreuz" the A 3 intersects the 66, which connects the two largest cities of the region, Frankfurt am Main and the provincial capital Wiesbaden. After crossing the Main on the Mainbrücke Raunheim, the A67 branches off from the A 3, forming a route to Stuttgart as well as to Switzerland. Immediately thereafter, the A 3 crosses the grounds of Frankfurt Airport. Two runway bridges connect the northwest runway to the north of the highway. Also, the airport's ICE station is just north of the A 3, which cross pedestrians on a bridge to get from the station to the terminals. Afterwards the A 3 intersects the A 5 at Germany's most used interchange, the "Frankfurter Kreuz" (Kassel-Basel).