European route E45

The European route E 45 goes between Sweden and Italy, through Denmark, Germany and Austria. With a length of about 4,920 kilometres (3,057 mi), it is the longest north-south European route.

• E 45: Karesuando (Sweden) – Porjus – Jokkmokk - Arvidsjaur – Östersund – Mora – Säffle – Åmål – Gothenburg … Frederikshavn (Denmark) – Aalborg – Randers - Århus – Vejle – Kolding – Frøslev – Flensburg (Germany) – Hamburg – Hanover – Göttingen – Kassel – Fulda – Würzburg – Nuremberg – Munich – Rosenheim – Wörgl (Austria) – Innsbruck – Brenner – Fortezza (Italy) – Bolzano – Trento – Verona – Modena – Bologna – Cesena – Perugia – Fiano Romano – Naples – Salerno – Sicignano – Cosenza – Villa San Giovanni … Messina – Catania – Siracusa – Gela^[2]

Finland

The E45 is not signposted in Finland ^[3], since the official document^[2] uses the Swedish version ("Karesuando") of the name of the village at the border, hinting that it would start on the Swedish side. The Swedish government proposed the extension in 2005 and did not include the Finnish road in the proposal, which was accepted as it was. The gap between the end of E45 and the European route E8 is about 1 km along the existing Finnish regional road 959 Karesuvanto (FIN) - Karesuando (SWE)

Sweden

In November 2006, the E 45 was extended with the current Swedish national road 45, which makes it start from Karesuando at the E 8 at the Swedish–Finnish border, over Östersund–Mora–Grums, to Gothenburg and on. This extended the length of the route by about 1,690 km (1,050 mi). The signs of road 45 was changed to E 45 during the summer of 2007. The E 45 has now no other national number. In Sweden the road is called Inlandsvägen.

The E45 in Sweden is mostly an ordinary road. Between Karesuando and Torsby (1370 km) the road is usually 6-8 meters wide, and goes mostly through sparsely populated forests, with occasional villages and only two cities, Östersund and Mora. South of Grums the E45 is a motorway for 6 km together with the E18. Between Säffle and Trollhättan several parts of it is 2+1 road with a middle barrier. Between Trollhättan and Göteborg a motorway is under construction, finished 2012. The speed limit is usually 100 km/h north of Mora and usually 90 south thereof. There are 27 road crossings or intersections where the Swedish E45 does not follow the straight direction. There are 26 level crossings with railways.

The ferry Gothenburg–Frederikshavn has about 8 daily departures and takes 2–3½ hours.

Denmark

In Denmark the E 45 is a motorway (speed limit 110 km/h - 130 km/h) from the south of Frederikshavn to the Danish–German border. The E 45 has no other national number. It connects to the E 39 and E 20 motorways.

In 1992 it was renamed from E 3 (which actually before 1985 ended in Lisbon, Portugal) and until 2006, with the extension in Sweden, the northern endpoint was Frederikshavn.

The total length in Denmark is 357 km.

Exits in Denmark

Germany

The road E 45 follows:

• Bundesautobahn 7, Danish border–Würzburg
• Bundesautobahn 3, Würzburg–Nuremberg
• Bundesautobahn 9, Nuremberg–Munich
• Bundesautobahn 99, Munich Beltway
• Bundesautobahn 8, Munich–Rosenheim
• Bundesautobahn 93, Rosenheim–Austrian border

Austria

The road E 45 follows:

• Inn Valley Autobahn A12, German border–Innsbruck
• Brenner Autobahn A13, Innsbruck–Italian border (at Brenner Pass)

Italy

The road E 45 follows:

• Italian Autostrada A22 (Brennero-Modena)
• Italian Autostrada A1 (Modena-Bologna)
• Italian Autostrada A14 (Bologna-Cesena)
• Italian road 3bis (Cesena-Terni)
• Strada statale 675 Umbro-Laziale (Terni-Orte)
• Italian Autostrada A1 (Orte-Napoli)
• Italian Autostrada A3 (Napoli-Villa San Giovanni)
• Villa San Giovanni-Messina (Strait of Messina)
• Italian Autostrada A18 (Messina-Catania)
• RA15 (Catania's bypass)
• Italian Autostrada Catania-Siracusa (Catania-Augusta)
• Strada statale 114 Orientale Sicula (Augusta-Siracusa)
• Italian Autostrada A18 (Siracusa-Rosolini)
• Strada statale 115 Sud Occidentale Sicula (Rosolini-Gela)

The native Sicilian population and mass media reports always refer to E45 as the Autostrada and/or its numbered route (A18).

Footnotes