Autostrada A3 (Italy)
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| Autostrada A3 | ||||
| Autostrada Napoli-Reggio Calabria | ||||
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| 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 | ||||
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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 sections not being originally constructed to anywhere near Motorway standard and to the notoriously poor conditions of maintenance, and also to the extremely difficult terrain along some of the route, EG Sfalassa Gorge, the motorway has been often taken as a symbol of the backwardness and economical problems of southern Italy. Italian historian Leandra D'Antone has defined it "a true Italian shame".[1] The European Union declines to classify the road as a “motorway” due to the decades-long roadwork restrictions on a supposedly modern road[2] and seeks recompense for its financial contributions.[3]
History
The first stretch of the road to be completed was the Naples-Pompeii section, finished on 22 June 1929. The connection onward 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 terrain, which made it 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 by 1974 is more similar to a sub-standard freeway (Italian: strada statale, "state road") than to the other autostrade (motorways) in Italy.[4] Queues became a common feature, especially in summer. To solve the situation, the Italian government funded renovation works in 1997. As of 2010, many of them are still ongoing, despite it being announced in 1993 that the works would be completed by 2003.[5] The EU antifraud investigation of works undertaken between 2007 and 2010 together with the repayment of over €300m to the EU in July 2012 have delayed completion of the upgrade works even further.[3][6]
The cost of the upgrade to date (August 2013) is projected to reach over €10bn by the time it is eventually completed, perhaps by 2018. The section from Salerno and Reggio Calabria alone, 442 km long, will cost €10bn with the rest spent on widening/upgrades already completed between Naples and Salerno. €7.443 Bn has been spent so far on parts of the 442 km section between Salerno and Reggio Calabria [7][8]
Overview
The entire road was a substandard freeway[9] when the upgrade programme from Naples to Reggio Calabria started in the early 1990s. 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 deceleration fields; this is especially significant on the now at least 50 year old Naples - Salerno section, where at some junctions there are stop-signs for traffic entering the motorway.[4] Hard shoulders are only recently apparent along the entire route, with only occasional emergency bays at infrequent locations on the sections that have not been upgraded yet. Generally speaking, most of the route is often congested even where upgraded.[10]
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 for the bad state of maintenance compared to other Italian motorways.[9] ANAS has been slowly upgrading this segment for the better part of the last three decades.[9]
Upgrade Progress
The motorway is currently undergoing heavy modernisation, in many cases a completely new parallel motorway is being built alongside the original A3 and involving in most cases a complete rebuilding or replacement of the road where the alignment is retained.[11]
In August 2014, works on 391 km of the road (88%) were completed. 16 more km of rebuilding/modernization was then due to be completed.[12]
A number of new junctions are also to be constructed, in some cases to service certain towns with no direct access at present.[13]
Route
| 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 - CanosaRoma |
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 .svg.png){kind=small} 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 | ||
See also
- Autostrada
- List of motorways in Italy
References
- ↑ (Italian) ...una vera e propria «vergogna italiana», in La storia della Salerno Reggio Calabria, book about Salerno-Reggio Calabria
- ↑ Organised crime may be behind problems with southern motorway: Awkward questions remain about Italian infrastructure, in
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/07/the-mafia-built-highway-that-could-cost-italy-471-million.html
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 (Italian) l'autostrada, completamente statale e senza pedaggio, con le sue due corsie, somiglia più ad una strada statale Salerno-Reggio Calabria: L’autostrada che non c'è, La Soria siamo noi, Rai Educational, in which the A3 is defined "the most devastated motorway stretch in Italy".
- ↑ Completion of the upgrade work has been, as of 2010, postponed to 2012-2013, see: (Italian)Autostrade: Salerno-Reggio Calabria pronta per 2012-2013, ItaliaInformazione, July 8, 2009
- ↑ Italy Repays €307m to EU after Road Project Mafia Corruption.
- ↑ (Italian) Stradaneanas Works Update (in Italian)
- ↑ (Italian)repubblica.it Around €10bn projected for Salerno = Reggio upgrade 06 March 2011 (in Italian)
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Photos and videos of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria "scandal" at A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria:uno Scandalo!, radicalweb.org, January 23, 2010
- ↑ (Italian) Viaggio dall’A3 al traghettamento sullo Stretto, terrelibere.org, August 7, 2009
- ↑ (Italian) Salerno Reggio Calabria ed il General Contractor unico, Le strade, may 2007
- ↑ (Italian)ANAS Update Summer 2014
- ↑ Pietro Ciucci ANAS CEO Speech in Brussels 14 November 2012 (English)
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to A3 Motorway. |
- SAM SpA (Italian)
- ANAS SpA (Italian)
- http://radicalweb.org/2010/01/a3-salerno-reggio-calabriauno-scandalo-nazionale-il-dossierle-fotoi-video/ Historical perspective and state of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria] (Italian)
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