Autostrada A3 (Italy)

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Autostrada A3 shield}}
Autostrada A3
A3torre.PNG
The motorway by Torre Annunziata
Route information
Maintained by ANAS
Existed1974 (old route)
2017 (current route)–present
Major junctions
FromNaples
ToSalerno
Location
CountryItaly
RegionsCampania
Highway system
  • Roads in Italy
A2 A4

The Autostrada A3 is a motorway in Southern Italy, which runs from Naples to Salerno, in the region Campania.
Until 2017 the route was much longer, going after Salerno further south until Reggio Calabria; on this year, this section became part of the new A2 motorway and of its two spur routes.

Overview

Due to sections not being originally constructed to anywhere near Motorway standard and to the notoriously poor conditions of maintenance, and also to the difficult terrain along some of the route, 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]

On 22 December 2016 the Salerno-Reggio Calabria freeway was declared complete, 20 years after the first renovation works started, with the opening of Larìa tunnel in Cosenza.[4] In a ceremony held in Reggio Calabria, prime minister Paolo Gentiloni begged pardon "for the delay"[5] and the road name was changed from "A3 Salerno-to-Reggio Calabria" to "A2 Autostrada del Mediterraneo" (Highway of the Mediterranean).

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.[6]

1997–2017 Renovation

Queues became a common feature, especially in summer. To solve the situation, the Italian government funded the construction of a new route which would remove the high gradients and sharp turns and enlarge the carriageway. This required the construction of new tunnels and viaducts (among these the viadotto italia the highest in Italy) while keeping the traffic on the current motorway open. The reconstruction works started in 1997 and officially ended in 2016 during a ceremony although works continued until late 2017. 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][7]

The cost of the upgrade (in August 2013) was projected to reach over €10bn by the time it was eventually completed, then envisaged as 2018. The section from Salerno to Reggio Calabria alone, 442 km long, would cost €10bn with the rest spent on widening/upgrades already completed between Naples and Salerno. €7.443 Bn had been spent up to 2011 on parts of the 442 km section between Salerno and Reggio Calabria.[8][9]

Construction

The entire road was constructed as a substandard freeway[10] by the mid-1970s and later an upgrade program from Naples to Reggio Calabria started in the early 1990s. The section with three lanes in each direction has a length of 105 km, between Naples and RA02 which goes towards Potenza. The section from the interchange with the A1 motorway in Naples to the Pompeii exit, built during the 1920s, originated as a local turnpike, and was later retrofitted to motorway standard. Many of the junctions along the original A3 route completed in the 1970s had very tight corners and extremely limited deceleration fields; this is especially significant on the now more than 50-year-old Naples-Salerno section, where at some junctions there are stop-signs for traffic entering the motorway.[6] Hard shoulders only appeared along the route as part of the post 1990 upgrades, with only occasional emergency bays at infrequent locations on the sections that have not been upgraded yet.

The concession of the Northern part was owned by Autostrade Meridionali [it], a company listing in Borsa Italiana and a subsidiary of Autostrade per l'Italia, which in turn a subsidiary of Atlantia. 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 prone to very high levels of traffic (especially at the start and at the end of holiday periods).

Upgrade progress

Starting in 1997 the motorway underwent heavy modernisation, in many cases a completely new parallel motorway was built alongside the original A3 and involved in most cases a complete rebuilding or replacement of the road where the alignment was retained.[11]

By 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 were also to be constructed, in some cases to service certain towns with no direct access at present.[13]

In May 2015 then prime minister Renzi indicated that the upgrade programme would be terminated by 2016.[14]

By March 2016 68 km remained to be done. Plans to upgrade 58 km were abandoned and changed from Motorway Construction projects to "Maintenance"[15][16]

Sections to be 'maintained' in future are:

Morano Calabro – Firmo, from km 185 + 000 to km 206 + 500: 21 km *Former Macrolotto 3.4

Cosenza – Altilia, from km 259 + 700 to km 286: 26 km *Former Macrolottos 4.1 4.2.1 and 4.2.2

Pizzo Calabro – S.Onofrio, from km 337 + 800 to km 348 + 600: 11 km *Former Macrolotto 5 (originally scheduled for completion 2012)[17]

Maintenance will involve pavement and structural renewal and is projected to cost €1bn between 2016 and 2021 instead of the €3bn that ANAS projected as the cost of fully upgrading the 3 remaining sections.[18]

These total 58 km of the new length of 435 km from Salerno to Campo Calabria and do not include the final 10 km from Campo Calabria to Reggio Calabria which remains as constructed in the 1970s.

also abandoned were a number of planned junctions.[19]

The motorway standard road will terminate at Campo Calabro approximately 10 km to the north of Reggio Calabria, and the remaining 10 km of old A3 into Reggio Calabria will not be upgraded to full motorway standards.

Major Cities

A3 goes through many cities, that are Salerno, Nocera inferiore, Pompei, Torre Annuziata, Torre del Greco, Ercolano, Portici, San Giorgo a Cremano, and Naples.

Route

A2 AUTOSTRADA DEL MEDITERRANEO: NAPOLI – REGGIO CALABRIA
Exit ↓km↓ ↑km↑ Province European Route
AB-AS-grün.svg Napoli Centro 2,0 51,6 NA  
AB-AS-grün.svg Napoli San Giovanni a Teduccio 2,5 46,1 NA  
AB-AS-grün.svg Tabliczka E45.svg Autostrada A1 Italia.svg Roma, Firenze, Bologna, Milano 2,5 4,1 NA  
AB-AS-grün.svg Napoli Ponticelli-S.Giorgio Nord 5,5 45,2 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg San Giorgio a Cremano 6,4 45,2 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Portici (Bellavista) 8,0 43,6 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Ercolano 8,5 43,1 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Torre del Greco (Nord) 11,5 40,1 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Torre Annunziata Nord 15,0 36,6 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Torre Annunziata Sud 20,0 31,6 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Pompei Ovest 21,9 29,7 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Castellammare di Stabia 22,5 29,1 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Scafati-Pompei Est 25,0 26,6 NA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Angri 29,7 21,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Nocera Inferiore 36,6 15,0 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Cava de' Tirreni 42,9 8,7 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Vietri sul Mare 48,4 3,2 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Salerno 51,6 0,0 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Salerno Fratte 0,0 442,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Italian traffic signs - strada extraurbana principale.svg RA02 Avellino
Autostrada A30 Italia.svg Caserta
Tabliczka E842.svg Autostrada A16 Italia.svg Napoli – Canosa
Autostrada A1 Italia.svg Roma
0,2 442,7 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg San Mango Piemonte 7,3 435,7 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Pontecagnano 13,0 429,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Montecorvino Pugliano 17,5 425,4 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Battipaglia 23,0 419,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Eboli 30,0 412,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Campagna 36,1 406,8 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Contursi Terme-Postiglione 46,0 396,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg SicignanoPotenza
Tabliczka E847.svg Italian traffic signs - strada extraurbana principale.svg RA05 Potenza
54,0 388,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Petina 65,0 377,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Polla 76,0 366,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Atena Lucana 83,0 359,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Sala Consilina 88,0 354,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg PadulaBuonabitacolo 104,0 338,9 SA Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Maratea-Lagonegro Nord 124,0 318,9 PZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Lagonegro Sud 126,0 316,9 PZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Lauria Nord 138,0 304,9 PZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Lauria Sud 145,0 297,9 PZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Laino Borgo 153,0 289,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Mormanno-Scalea 164,0 278,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Campotenese 174,0 268,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Castrovillari-Morano Calabro 185,0 257,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Castrovillari-Frascineto 194,0 248,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Tabliczka E844.svg Sibari 208,0 234,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Altomonte 214,0 228,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Spezzano 220,0 222,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Tarsia 225,0 217,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Torano 235,0 207,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Montalto Uffugo 246,0 196,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Cosenza Nord
Tabliczka E846.svg Crotone
253,0 189,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Cosenza 259,0 183,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg RoglianoGrimaldi 273,0 169,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Altilia 286,0 156,9 CS Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg San Mango d'Aquino 294,0 148,9 CZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Falerna 304,0 138,9 CZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Lamezia Terme
Tabliczka E848.svg Catanzaro
320,0 122,9 CZ Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Pizzo 339,0 103,9 VV Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Sant'Onofrio-Vibo Valentia 348,0 94,9 VV Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Serre 359,0 83,9 VV Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Mileto 370,0 72,9 VV Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Rosarno
Italian traffic signs - strada extraurbana principale.svg SGC Jonio-Tirreno: Marina di Gioiosa Ionica
383,0 59,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-Tank.svg Service area "Rosarno" 390,0 56,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Gioia Tauro 393,0 49,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Palmi 401,0 41,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Sant'Elia 408,0 34,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Bagnara Calabra 412,0 30,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Scilla 423,0 19,9 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
Italian traffic signs - divieto di transito.svg Santa Trada of Cannitello (cancelled from 2008) 423,0 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-Tank.svg Service area "Villa San Giovanni" 433,0 10,0 RC Tabliczka E45.svg
AB-AS-grün.svg Villa San Giovanni
Tabliczka E45.svg RWB Fähre(L).svg Car ferry to Sicily
434,0 8,9 RC  
AB-AS-grün.svg Campo Calabro 435,0 7,9 RC  
AB-AS-grün.svg Reggio Catona – Arghillà 436,0 6,9 RC  
AB-AS-grün.svg Reggio Gallico 437,0 5,9 RC  
AB-AS-grün.svg Reggio maritime port – Promenade
RWB Fähre(L).svg Car ferry to Sicily
441,6 1,3 RC  
AB-AS-grün.svg Italian traffic signs - autostrada.svg Tabliczka E90.svg RA04 Reggio Calabria – SS106 442,5 0,4 RC  
Sinnbild Innerorts.svg Reggio Calabria Nord 442,9 0,0 RC  
Reggio Calabria: end of the A3 and beginning of the RA04 that connects with the SS106.

See also

References

  1. ^ (in Italian) ...una vera e propria «vergogna italiana», in La storia della Salerno Reggio Calabria Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, book about Salerno-Reggio Calabria
  2. ^ Organised crime may be behind problems with southern motorway: Awkward questions remain about Italian infrastructure, in [1]
  3. ^ a b Nadeau, Barbie Latza (7 July 2012). "The Mafia-Built Highway That Could Cost Italy $471 Million". The Daily Beast.
  4. ^ "Salerno-to-Reggio Calabria complete". ANSA. 22 December 2016.
  5. ^ "Da oggi A2, l'Autostrada del Mediterraneo. Gentiloni: "Scusate per il ritardo"". calabriapage.it (in Italian).
  6. ^ a b (in 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 Archived 27 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine, La Soria siamo noi, Rai Educational, in which the A3 is defined "the most devastated motorway stretch in Italy".
  7. ^ [2] Italy Repays €307m to EU after Road Project Mafia Corruption.
  8. ^ "Anas S.p.A. - Attività dell'Anas sulla Salerno - Reggio Calabria" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 21 August 2011. Stradaneanas Works Update (in Italian)
  9. ^ (in Italian)repubblica.it Around €10bn projected for Salerno = Reggio upgrade 6 March 2011 (in Italian)
  10. ^ Photos and videos of the Salerno-Reggio Calabria "scandal" at A3 Salerno-Reggio Calabria:uno Scandalo! Archived 3 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine, radicalweb.org, 23 January 2010
  11. ^ (in Italian) Salerno Reggio Calabria ed il General Contractor unico Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Le strade, may 2007
  12. ^ (in Italian)ANAS Update Summer 2014 Archived 29 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  13. ^ "Pietro Ciucci ANAS CEO Speech in Brussels 14 November 2012 (English)". Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 10 August 2013.
  14. ^ "Prime Minister announces completion A3 by 2016, here is the current situation/Premier annuncia completamento A3 entro 2016, ecco la situazione attuale". La Metino. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  15. ^ "A3 Upgrade History". Stradeanas. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
  16. ^ "'Maintenance' Plan Infographic March 2016 ( Italian)" (PDF). Stradeanas. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 March 2016.
  17. ^ "Autostrada A3: Lotto 5 Pizzo Calabro – Sant'Onofrio" (in Italian). Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  18. ^ "Sa-Rc, only maintenance for the last 58 km/Sa-Rc, solo manutenzione per gli ultimi 58 chilometri". Il Sole 24. Il Sole 24. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  19. ^ "Prime Minister announces completion A3 by 2016, here is the current situation". La Metino. 18 May 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2016.

External links