Autostrade of Italy
The Autostrade (Italian: [autoˈstraːde]; singular Autostrada [autoˈstraːda]) are roads forming the Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about 6,758 kilometres (4,199 mi).[1] In North and Central Italy this is mainly as tollways, with the biggest portion in concession to the Atlantia group (via Autostrade per l'Italia) which operates some 3,408 km. Other operators include ASTM, ATP and Autostrade Lombarde in the north-west, Autostrada del Brennero, A4 Holding, Concessioni Autostradali Venete and Autovie Venete in the north-east, SALT and Autocisa in the center, all under the supervision of the state-owned ANAS.
History
Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways, i.e., fast roads, reserved for motor vehicles. The Milano-Laghi motorway (connecting Milan to Varese) was devised by Piero Puricelli, a civil engineer and entrepreneur. He received the first authorization to build a public-utility fast road in 1921, and completed the construction (one lane each direction) between 1924 and 1926. By the end of the 1930s, over 400 kilometers of multi- and dual-single-lane motorways were constructed throughout Italy, linking cities and rural towns.
Speed
Italy's autostrade have a standard speed limit of 130 km/h (81 mph) for cars. Limits for other vehicles (or during foul weather and/or low visibility) are lower. Legal provisions allow operators to set the limit to 150 km/h (93 mph) on their concessions on a voluntary basis if these conditions are met: three lanes in each direction and a working SICVE, or Safety Tutor, speed-camera system that measure the average speed.
List of current Autostrade
- A1 Milan - Naples (known as "Autostrada del Sole", Highway of the Sun, or "AutoSole" for short)
- (A2 – designation has been replaced - formerly Rome - Naples, now part of A1)
- A3 Naples - Salerno - Reggio Calabria
- A4 Turin - Trieste (the Brescia-Venice section known as "Serenissima", The Most Serene, named after the ancient Venetian republic)
- A5 Turin - Aosta - Monte Bianco (connecting to France through Mont Blanc Tunnel; known as "Autostrada della Valle d'Aosta", Motorway of Aosta Valley)
- A6 Turin - Savona (known as "Verdemare", The Seagreen)
- A7 Milan - Genoa (known as "Serravalle")
- A8 Varese - Milan (known as "Autostrada dei Laghi", Motorway of the Lakes, or "AutoLaghi" for short)
- A9 Lainate - Como - Chiasso (connecting to Switzerland; part of "Autostrada dei Laghi")
- A10 Genoa - Ventimiglia (connecting to France; known as "Autostrada dei Fiori", Motorway of the Flowers)
- A11 Florence - Pisa Nord (known as "Firenze-Mare", Florence-Sea)
- A12 Genoa - Rosignano Marittimo / Civitavecchia - Rome (known as "Autostrada Azzurra", Blue Motorway), comprising two separate parts but connected by Strada Statale 1, "via Aurelia", between Rosignano and Civitavecchia.
- A13 Padova - Bologna
- A14 Bologna - Taranto (known as "Autostrada Adriatica", Adriatic Motorway)
- A15 Parma - La Spezia (known as "Autocamionale della Cisa", Motor-and-truckway of the Cisa Pass)
- A16 Naples - Canosa (known as "Autostrada dei Due Mari", Motorway of the Two Seas)
- (A17 designation has been withdrawn)
- A18 Messina - Catania / Syracuse - Rosolini
- A19 Palermo - Catania
- A20 Messina - Palermo
- A21 Turin - Piacenza - Brescia (known as "Autostrada dei Vini", Motorway of the Wines)
- A22 Modena - Brennero (connecting to Austria; known as "Autostrada del Brennero" or "AutoBrennero" for short)
- A23 Palmanova - Tarvisio (connecting to Austria; known as "Autostrada Alpe-Adria", Motorway of Alps-Adria)
- A24 Rome - L'Aquila - Teramo (known as "Autostrada dei Parchi", Motorway of the Parks)
- A25 Pescara - Torano
- A26 Genoa (Voltri) - Gravellona Toce (known as "Autostrada dei Trafori", Motorway of the Tunnels)
- A27 Venice - Belluno (known as "Autostrada d'Alemagna", Motorway of Alamannia)
- A28 Conegliano - Pordenone - Portogruaro
- A29 Palermo - Mazara del Vallo/Trapani (known as "Autostrada del Sale", Motorway of Salt)
- A30 Caserta - Salerno
- A31 Piovene Rocchette - Agugliaro (known as "Autostrada della Val d'Astico", Motorway of Astico Valley)
- A32 Turin - Bardonecchia (connecting to France via Fréjus Road Tunnel; known as "Autostrada del Frejus", Motorway of the Frejus)
- A33 Asti - Cuneo (under construction, but partly opened)
- A34 Villesse - Gorizia
- A35 Brescia - Milano (known as "BreBeMi" or "Direttissima")
- A36 Cassano Magnago - Lomazzo (known as "Pedemontana Lombarda")
- A53 Raccordo Bereguardo-Pavia (connection between Pavia and motorway A7)
- A91 Roma - Fiumicino Aeroporto
Until 1990, the designation A1 referred only to the Milan-Rome section of the current A1; the Rome-Naples section was known as A2. After a link was built bypassing Rome, the designation A2 was withdrawn and now the A1 designation refers to the whole route. The residual connections to the "Grande Raccordo Anulare" (Great Ring Road, around Rome) were designated as raccordi (see later). Until 1973, the designation A17 referred to the current A16, and the section Canosa-Bari of the current A14.
List of tangenziali (bypass roads around big cities)
This is a list of tangenziali classified as autostrada.
- A50 Tangenziale Ovest di Milano (west bypass road, Milan)
- A51 Tangenziale Est di Milano (east bypass road, Milan)
- A52 Tangenziale Nord di Milano (north bypass road, Milan)
- A54 Tangenziale di Pavia
- A55 Tangenziale Nord di Torino e Tangenziale Sud di Torino (north and south bypass roads, Turin)
- A56 Tangenziale di Napoli
- A57 Tangenziale di Venezia
- A58 Tangenziale Est Esterna di Milano (east bypass road, Milan)
- A60 Tangenziale di Varese
- A90 Grande Raccordo Anulare di Roma (Great Ring Road of Rome)
- RA1 Tangenziale di Bologna
- RA15 Tangenziale di Catania (Catania's Ring Road West)
List of bretelle and raccordi autostradali
Some autostrade are called bretelle, diramazioni or raccordi because they are short and have few exits.
Bretelle, diramazioni or raccordi are generally connections between two motorways, or connections between motorways and important cities without a motorway.
They have the same number (sometimes with the suffix dir) as one of the two autostrade linked, a combination of the numbers of the two autostrade linked, or the number of the main autostrada.
| Number | Name (length) | Connection |
|---|---|---|
 | Raccordo Milano-Piazzale Corvetto (2 km) | A1 - Milano Piazzale Corvetto |
| | Diramazione Capodichino (3 km) | A1 - Aeroporto di Capodichino - A56 |
 | Diramazione Roma nord (23 km) | A1 - GRA |
| | Diramazione Roma sud (20 km) | A1 - GRA |
 | Raccordo Chivasso (6 km) | A4 - Verolengo |
 | Raccordo Ivrea-Santhià (23,6 km) | A4 - A5 |
| Raccordo Aosta-Gran San Bernardo (7,9 km) | A5 - SS27 | |
 | Diramazione per Fossano (6,6 km) | A6 - Fossano |
 | Diramazione Gallarate-Gattico (23,2 km) | A8 - A26 |
 | Diramazione Lucca-Viareggio (20 km) | A11 - A12 |
 | Diramazione per Livorno (4,5 km) | A12 - Livorno |
 | Diramazione per Padova sud (4,3 km) | A13 - Padova |
| | Diramazione per Ferrara (6,3 km) | A13 - Ferrara - RA8 |
 | Raccordo per Tangenziale di Bari (4,6 km) | A14 - Tangenziale di Bari |
 | Diramazione per Ravenna (29,8 km) | A14 - Ravenna |
 | Diramazione La Spezia-Santo Stefano di Magra | Santo Stefano di Magra - A15 - La Spezia |
 | Diramazione per Catania (3,7 km) | A18 - Catania |
 | Raccordo A19-Palermo (5,2 km) | A19 - Circonvallazione di Palermo |
 | Diramazione per Fiorenzuola (12,3) | A1 - A21 |
 | Diramazione Stroppiana-Santhià (29,7 km) | A4 - A26 |
 | Diramazione Predosa-Bettole (17 km) | A7 - A26 |
 | Diramazione Alcamo-Trapani (36,9 km) | A29 - Trapani |
 | Diramazione per Birgi (13,1 km) | A29dir - Aeroporto di Trapani-Birgi |
 | Bretella aeroporto Falcone e Borsellino (4 km) | A29 - Aeroporto di Palermo |
 | Raccordo per via Belgio (5,6 km) | A29 - Circonvallazione di Palermo |
 | Diramazione per Pinerolo (23,44 km) | A55 - Pinerolo |
| | Diramazione per Moncalieri (6,18 km) | A6 - Moncalieri |
| | Raccordo della Falchera (3,13 km) | A55 - A4 - SR 11 |
 | Bretella/raccordo aeroporto (6,73 km) | A57 - Aeroporto di Venezia |
Trafori (T)
Important alpine tunnels ((Italian) trafori) are identified by the capital letter "T" followed by a single digit number. Currently there are only three T-classified tunnels: Mont Blanc Tunnel (T1), Great St Bernard Tunnel (T2) and Frejus Road Tunnel (T4). Tunnels that cross the border between Italy and France (T1, T4) or Switzerland (T2), are treated as motorways (green signage, access control, and so on), although they are not proper motorways. The code T3 was once assigned to the Bargagli-Ferriere Tunnel in Ligurian Appennines before it was reclassified as SP 226.
 | Traforo del Monte Bianco |
 | Traforo del Gran San Bernardo |
 | Traforo del Frejus |
Raccordi autostradali (RA)
RA stands for Raccordo autostradale (translated as "motorway connection"), a relatively short spur route that connects an autostrada to a nearby city or tourist resort not directly served by the motorway. These spurs are owned and managed by ANAS (with some exceptions, such as the RA7 that became A53 when assigned to a private company for maintenance). Some spurs are toll-free motorways (type-A), but most are type-B or type-C roads. All RA have separate carriageways with two lanes in each direction. Generally, they do not have an emergency lane.
| Symbol | Number | |
|---|---|---|
 | RA1 | A1 - A13 - A14 (Tangenziale di Bologna) |
 | RA2 | A3 - Avellino |
 | RA3 | A1 - Siena |
 | RA4 | A3 - Reggio Calabria - SS106 |
 | RA5 | A3 - Potenza |
 | RA6 | A1 - Perugia |
 | A53 (or RA7) | A7 - Tangenziale di Pavia |
 | RA8 | A13 - Ferrara - Porto Garibaldi |
 | RA9 | A16 - Benevento |
 | RA10 | Torino - A55 - Aeroporto di Caselle |
 | RA11 | Ascoli - A14 - Porto d'Ascoli |
 | RA12 | A25 - Chieti - A14 - Pescara |
 | RA13 | A4 - SS202 |
 | RA14 | RA13 - Fernetti (state border with Slovenia) |
 | RA15 | A18 - A19 - Aut. CT-SR |
 | RA16 | A28 - SS13 Pontebbana |
Strade extraurbane principali
Type B highway (or strada extraurbana principale), commonly but unofficially known as superstrada (Italian equivalent for expressway), is a divided highway with at least two lanes in each direction, paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections. Access restrictions on such highways are exactly the same as autostrade. Signage at the beginning and the end of the highways is the same, except the background color is blue instead of green. The general speed limit on strade extraurbane principali is 110 km/h. Strade extraurbane principali are not tolled. All strade extraurbane principali are owned and managed by ANAS, and directly controlled by the Italian government or by the regions.
See also
References
External links
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