Autoroutes of France

Map of French expressways and highways
Barrière de péage
Motorway toll in Toulouse-Sud (south of Toulouse), on road number A61

The Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of 11,882 km (7,383 mi) worth of motorways in 2014. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo. Toll autoroutes are signalled with the word péage (toll).

The French Autoroute A1
A French motorway.

Numbering scheme

Unlike other highway systems, there is no systematic numbering system, but there is a clustering of Autoroute numbers based on region. A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A10, A13, A14, A15, A16 radiate from Paris with A2, A11, and A12 branching from A1, A10, and A13, respectively. A7 begins in Lyon, where A6 ends. A8 and A9 begin respectively near Aix-en-Provence and Avignon. The 20s are found in northern France. The 30s are found in Eastern France. The 40s are found near the Alps. The 50s are near the French Riviera. The 60s are found in southern France. The 70s are found in the centre of the country. The 80s are found west of Paris.

Named routes

Some of the autoroutes have their own name in addition to a number:

Administration

The status of motorways in France has been the subject of debate through years, from their construction until recently. Originally, the autoroutes were built by private companies mandated by the French government, and followed strict construction rules as described below. They are operated and maintained by mixed companies held in part by private interests and in part by the state. Those companies hold concessions, which means that autoroutes belong to the French state and their administration to semi-private companies. Vinci controls around 4,380 km (2,720 mi) of motorway. The different companies are as follows:

Only in the Brittany region do most of the autoroutes belong to the government. They are operated by the regional council and are free from tolls.

Safety on French autoroutes

France has the following speed limits for limited access roads:

In normal conditions, there is a minimum speed of 80 km/h (50 mph) in the lane most left (no minimum speed on the others' right lanes, but speed should be adapted for each situation: not too slow).

The autoroutes are designed to increase the safety of drivers; this allows a higher speed limit (130 km/h or 81 mph) than on the normal roads (90 km/h or 56 mph) with an acceptable risk of accident.

Dynamic information panel used on the French Autoroute.

The safety measures are:

Economics

The toll roads were granted as concessions to mixed-economy corporations; the free roads are directly administered by the national government. Tolls are either based on a flat-rate for access to the road or on the distance driven. The latter case is the most common for long distances; users take a ticket from an automatic machine when they enter the autoroute, and pay according to the distance when exiting; toll booths accept multiple payment methods.

In 2005, the Villepin government proposed a controversial plan to sell all of the state's holdings in autoroute companies to private investors. Critics contend that the price announced is well below the profit forecasts for these companies, and thus that the government sacrifices the future to solve current budgetary problems.[1]

List of Autoroutes

A1 - A9

A10 - A20

A10 autoroute near Paris

A21 - A29

A26, A28, A29 and A19: segments of the wide loop bypassing Paris.

A30 - A39

Motorways A40-A49

A40 - A49

Motorways A50-A59

A50 - A59

Motorways A60-A69

A60 - A69

A70 - A79

A80 - A89

A86 (blue), A104 (green) and the Périphérique (orange).

Others

A13 in the outskirts of Caen

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Autoroutes in France.

References

  1. ↑ Press release of 12-14-2005

External links