| Adriatic–Ionian Motorway | |
|---|---|
| Major junctions | |
| From: | Trieste, Italy |
| To: | Kalamata, Greece |
| Location | |
| Countries: | Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Montenegro, Albania, Greece |
| Major cities: | Trieste, Rijeka, Split, Dubrovnik, Podgorica, Tirana, Durrës, Ioannina, Patras, Kalamata |
| Highway system | |
Adriatic–Ionian motorway (Croatian: Jadransko–jonska autocesta; Montenegrin: Jadransko–jonski autoput; Albanian: Autostrada Adriatiko-Joniane) is a future motorway that will stretch along the entire eastern shore of Adriatic and Ionian seas, spanning the western border of the Balkan peninsula.
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The road is planned to be built to full motorway standards. It will start in Trieste, Italy, pass through Slovenia, enter Croatia near Rijeka, and continue through Croatia as part of A1 motorway. Because the Croatian territory near Dubrovnik is very narrow along the coast, a section of the motorway shall pass near Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina before entering Montenegro.[1] Passing Podgorica, the motorway will enter Albania north of Lake Scutari, and continue south via Tirana and Durrës. Exiting Albania, the motorway will probably follow the Greek section of E55 route.
The road is seen as a matter of national importance to Croatia, Montenegro and Albania. Those countries have launched an initiative to list the motorway with Pan-European corridors in order to be able to secure foreign funding.
With starting of Adriatic–Ionian motorway at Trieste, the already existing feeder road RA 13 to the Slovenian border is used. The RA 13 is connected to the Slovenian A3 highway.
The Slovenian section starts with the already existing A3 from the Italian border at Sežana to the interconnection with the A1. The further route isn't planned yet, but will lead to the Croatian border near Jelšane where it will be connected with the Croatian A7 highway. Until construction of that part, the traffic is passed over a national road.
In Croatia, the Adriatic–Ionian motorway is planned to follow routes of the A7 motorway along its entire length, and the A1 motorway from the Žuta Lokva interchange to the south.
So far, Croatia has made the biggest progress on its section by completing significant parts of the A7 motorway and the A1 motorway.
The A7 is completed from the Slovenian border at Rupa, bypassing Rijeka and connecting to the A6. Construction of the part from this junction to a planned interchange with the A1 at Žuta Lokva is currently slowed down and planned as a long-term project. Until completion of this sector, the traffic may either use an indirect route to the A1 via the A6 motorway (to the junction of the A1 and A6 motorways at Bosiljevo 2) or a more direct route to the A1 via the D8 state road (also known as Adriatic Highway).
The A1 currently ends near the city of Vrgorac, and it is planned to end at Dubrovnik, but no concrete plans exist for the motorway route past Metković, and the D8 carries the southeastward traffic after the A1. It intersects the short strip of Bosnia and Herzegovina territory at Neum.
It has not yet been defined whether a motorway will pass through southern Bosnia and Herzegovina near Trebinje. A route passing through the Trebinje field would require approval of both the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton and Republika Srpska.
In the Spatial Plan of Montenegro, route of the Adriatic – Ionian motorway is currently defined as following:
Thus, Government of Montenegro has considered only the option of motorway crossing southern Bosnia and Hercegovina near Trebinje. A parallel expressway along the coast is also planned, that will connect directly to Croatian road network at Debeli Brijeg, however, this is not considered a part of Adriatic – Ionian route, and will not be built to full motorway standard. This route is intended to relieve Adriatic Highway, and will follow the Montenegrin coastline closely, with Verige Bridge included in its route.
Approximate length of motorway through Montenegro is 100 km, of which 10 km between Mareza and Smokovac is shared with Belgrade–Bar motorway.
Building of the Belgrade–Bar motorway is currently a priority for Montenegro, and concrete activities on building Adriatic – Ionian motorway are yet to begin.
Albania has finished big parts of its north-south corridor connecting Montenegro and Greece (consists of SH1 and SH4 highways) and therefore only few parts of the Adriatic–Ionian motorway aren't build yet. Those incomplete parts are the route between the Albanian-Montenegrin border and Shkodër (Hani i Hotit - Shkodër, about 46 km), as well as the route between Fier and Tepelenë (about 70 km). An alternate parallel route stretching along the mountains facing the Ionian Sea is Vlora-Saranda. It has been recently reconstructed and was opened in 2009. However, it is unlikely to be further widened and become part of the motorway.
Most parts of these new segments are only 2 lane highways (called "superstradë") instead of the proposed 4 lane motorway (called "autostradë"). It's expected that those parts will be upgraded step by step in the near future.
Greece is currently building its A5 motorway (called Ionia Odos) to replace the existing National roads GR-22 (from the Albanian border at Kakavia to Kalpaki), GR-20 (from Kalpaki to Ioannina) and GR-5 (from Ioannina to Rio). The already built Rio–Antirrio bridge will become part of the A5. From Rio, another motorway, the A9 (called Olympia Odos), is under construction to replace the existing national roads GR-9 and GR-9a leading to Tsakona and to an interconnection with the A7 motorway (called "Eastern Peloponese Motorway") further leading to the end of Adriatic–Ionian motorway at Kalamata. That last part is also under construction and will replace the GR-7.