The A 3 begins at the border crossing Elten in North Rhine-Westphalia as a four-lane continuation of the Dutch A 12. Until Oberhausen the highway runs on the right bank of the Lower Rhine past the cities Emmerich, Wesel and Dinslaken and reaches the Ruhrgebiet. Beginning at the "Kreuz Oberhausen" with A 516 and A 2, the A 3 is a three-lane freeway in both directions. A 3 runs parallel to the A 59 between Dinslaken and Düsseldorf before bypassing the latter to the east. Outside of Düsseldorf the A 3 runs parallel to the A 59, the latter of which forming an alternative route between the cities Düsseldorf and Cologne. From Leverkusen, where the A 3 (Fehmarn-Saarbrücken) intersects the A 1, the A 3 forms the eastern part of the Cologne Ring. Due to the very high volume of traffic, this section is often congested, which is why a section between Cologne-Mülheim and the Heumar triangle has been expanded to eight lanes. Between Cologne-Ost and Heumarer Dreieck, the A 4 (Aachen-Olpe) runs on a common route with the A 3. After Cologne, the motorway reverts to six lanes and reaches Siegburg, where it intersects with A 560 at the interchange Bonn / Siegburg. The landscape becomes rather hilly soon after, winding through the Siebengebirge and the Westerwald and entering Rhineland-Palatinate.