| A3 Motorway | |
|---|---|
| Autostrada Napoli-Reggio Calabria | |
| Route information | |
| Length: | 494.9 km (307.5 mi) |
| Existed: | 1974 – present |
| Major junctions | |
| North end: | Naples |
| South end: | Reggio Calabria |
| Location | |
| Regions: | Campania, Basilicata, Calabria |
| Highway system | |
The Autostrada A3 Napoli-Reggio Calabria is a motorway in the south of Italy, which runs from Naples to Reggio Calabria via Salerno. It runs through three regions: Campania (171 km), Basilicata (30 km) and Calabria (293,9 km).
Due to its notorious poor conditions of maintenance, and its difficult route, the motorway has been often taken as a symbol of the backwardness and economical problems of southern Italy. Italian historian Leandra D'Antone, although underlying the engineering effort needed to overcome the construction problems, has defined it "a true Italian shame".[1]
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The first stretch of the road to be completed was the Naples-Pompeii, finished on 22 June 1929. The connection to Salerno was completed on 16 July 1961.
In 1964 the Italian government decided to build a motorway which connected the rest of Italy to Calabria, so far considered a kind of "Third Island" (together with Sicily and Sardinia), due to the nature of its sharp reliefs, which made problematic to reach the region. The new motorway was built in a total of 8 years, the works being delivered on 13 June 1974.
The road built was more similar to a sub-standard freeway (Italian: strada statale, "state road") than to the other autostrade (motorways) in Italy.[2] Queues became a common feature, especially in summer. To solve the situation, the Italian government funded renovation works in 1997. As of 2010[update], many of them are still ongoing, despite in 1993 it had been announced that the works would be completed within 2003[3]
The entire road is a substandard freeway.[4] The only sector with three lanes has a length of 50 km. The section of the road from the interchange with the A1 motorway in Naples to the Pompeii exit, built during the 1920s, originated as a local turnpike and only later was retrofitted to motorway standard. Many of the junctions along the route have very tight corners and extremely limited de-acceleration fields; this is especially significant on the Naples - Salerno section, where at some junctions there are stop-signs for traffic entering the motorway.[2] Hard shoulders are virtually non-existent along almost the entire route, apart from occasional emergency bays at infrequent locations. Generally speaking, most of the route is often congested.[5]
The southern segment (Salerno-Reggio Calabria) is toll-free and is maintained by ANAS, the state agency for public routes. Located in a mountainous area, it is famous for being prone to very high levels of traffic (especially at the start and at the end of vacation periods) and its bad state of maintenance compared to other Italian motorways.[4] ANAS has been slowly upgrading this segment for the better part of the last three decades.[4] The motorway is currently undergoing heavy modernisation, involving in many cases a complete rebuilding of the road.[6]
As of July 2011, works on 237 km of the road (53%) have been completed. 147 more km of rebuilding/modernization are due to be completed within the end of 2014.[7]
| A3 NAPOLI - REGGIO CALABRIA | |||||
| Exit | ↓km↓ | ↑km↑ | Province | European Route | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Napoli Centro | 2,0 | 51,6 | NA | ||
| Napoli San Giovanni a Teduccio | 2,5 | 46,1 | NA | ||
| Roma, Firenze, Bologna, Milano | 2,5 | 4,1 | NA | ||
| Napoli Ponticelli-S.Giorgio Nord | 5,5 | 45,2 | NA | ||
| San Giorgio a Cremano | 6,4 | 45,2 | NA | ||
| Portici (Bellavista) | 8,0 | 43,6 | NA | ||
| Ercolano | 8,5 | 43,1 | NA | ||
| Torre del Greco (Nord) | 11,5 | 40,1 | NA | ||
| Torre Annunziata Nord | 15,0 | 36,6 | NA | ||
| Torre Annunziata Sud | 20,0 | 31,6 | NA | ||
| Pompei Ovest | 21,9 | 29,7 | NA | ||
| Castellammare di Stabia | 22,5 | 29,1 | NA | ||
| Scafati-Pompei Est | 25,0 | 26,6 | NA | ||
| Angri | 29,7 | 21,9 | SA | ||
| Nocera Inferiore | 36,6 | 15,0 | SA | ||
| Cava de' Tirreni | 42,9 | 8,7 | SA | ||
| Vietri sul Mare | 48,4 | 3,2 | SA | ||
| Salerno | 51,6 | 0,0 | SA | ||
| Salerno Fratte | 0,0 | 442,9 | SA | ||
| RA02 Avellino Caserta Napoli - Canosa Roma |
0,2 | 442,7 | SA | ||
| San Mango Piemonte | 7,3 | 435,7 | SA | ||
| Pontecagnano | 13,0 | 429,9 | SA | ||
| Montecorvino Pugliano | 17,5 | 425,4 | SA | ||
| Battipaglia | 23,0 | 419,9 | SA | ||
| Eboli | 30,0 | 412,9 | SA | ||
| Campagna | 36,1 | 406,8 | SA | ||
| Contursi Terme-Postiglione | 46,0 | 396,9 | SA | ||
| Sicignano - Potenza RA05 Potenza |
54,0 | 388,9 | SA | ||
| Petina | 65,0 | 377,9 | SA | ||
| Polla | 76,0 | 366,9 | SA | ||
| Atena Lucana | 83,0 | 359,9 | SA | ||
| Sala Consilina | 88,0 | 354,9 | SA | ||
| Padula - Buonabitacolo | 104,0 | 338,9 | SA | ||
| Maratea-Lagonegro Nord | 124,0 | 318,9 | PZ | ||
| Lagonegro Sud | 126,0 | 316,9 | PZ | ||
| Lauria Nord | 138,0 | 304,9 | PZ | ||
| Lauria Sud | 145,0 | 297,9 | PZ | ||
| Laino Borgo | 153,0 | 289,9 | CS | ||
| Mormanno-Scalea | 164,0 | 278,9 | CS | ||
| Campotenese | 174,0 | 268,9 | CS | ||
| Castrovillari-Morano Calabro | 185,0 | 257,9 | CS | ||
| Castrovillari-Frascineto | 194,0 | 248,9 | CS | ||
| Sibari | 208,0 | 234,9 | CS | ||
| Altomonte | 214,0 | 228,9 | CS | ||
| Spezzano | 220,0 | 222,9 | CS | ||
| Tarsia | 225,0 | 217,9 | CS | ||
| Torano | 235,0 | 207,9 | CS | ||
| Montalto Uffugo | 246,0 | 196,9 | CS | ||
| Cosenza Nord Crotone |
253,0 | 189,9 | CS | ||
| Cosenza | 259,0 | 183,9 | CS | ||
| Rogliano - Grimaldi | 273,0 | 169,9 | CS | ||
| Altilia | 286,0 | 156,9 | CS | ||
| San Mango d'Aquino | 294,0 | 148,9 | CZ | ||
| Falerna | 304,0 | 138,9 | CZ | ||
| Lamezia Terme Catanzaro |
320,0 | 122,9 | CZ | ||
| Pizzo | 339,0 | 103,9 | VV | ||
| Sant'Onofrio-Vibo Valentia | 348,0 | 94,9 | VV | ||
| Serre | 359,0 | 83,9 | VV | ||
| Mileto | 370,0 | 72,9 | VV | ||
| Rosarno SGC Jonio-Tirreno: Marina di Gioiosa Ionica |
383,0 | 59,9 | RC | ||
| Service area "Rosarno" | 390,0 | 56,9 | RC | ||
| Gioia Tauro | 393,0 | 49,9 | RC | ||
| Palmi | 401,0 | 41,9 | RC | ||
| Sant'Elia | 408,0 | 34,9 | RC | ||
| Bagnara Calabra | 412,0 | 30,9 | RC | ||
| Scilla | 423,0 | 19,9 | RC | ||
| Santa Trada of Cannitello (cancelled from 2008) | 423,0 | RC | |||
| Service area "Villa San Giovanni" | 433,0 | 10,0 | RC | ||
| Villa San Giovanni Car ferry to Sicily |
434,0 | 8,9 | RC | ||
| Campo Calabro | 435,0 | 7,9 | RC | ||
| Reggio Catona - Arghillà | 436,0 | 6,9 | RC | ||
| Reggio Gallico | 437,0 | 5,9 | RC | ||
| Reggio maritime port - Promenade Car ferry to Sicily |
441,6 | 1,3 | RC | ||
| RA04 Reggio Calabria - SS106 | 442,5 | 0,4 | RC | ||
| Reggio Calabria Nord | 442,9 | 0,0 | RC | ||
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