Autostrada A2 (Italy)

	Template: Infobox high-ranking road / Maintenance / IT-A
	Autostrada A2 in Italy
	Diramazione Reggio Calabria; (Junction Reggio Calabria)
	Basic data
Operator:	ANAS;
Start of the street:	Reggio Calabria ; ( 38 ° 12 ′ N , 15 ° 38 ′ E )
End of street:	Reggio Calabria ; ( 38 ° 8 ′ N , 15 ° 39 ′ E )
Overall length:	9.048 km
Regions :	Calabria;
Requirement for use:	toll-free
Development condition:	2 × 2 lanes
	Transition from the A2dirRC to the RA4
	region Calabria
	Under construction; In planning;

	Template: Infobox high-ranking road / Maintenance / IT-A
	Autostrada A2 in Italy
	Diramazione Napoli; (Branch Naples)
	Basic data
Operator:	ANAS;
Start of the street:	Salerno ; ( 40 ° 42 ′ N , 14 ° 47 ′ E )
End of street:	Salerno ; ( 40 ° 41 ′ N , 14 ° 46 ′ E )
Overall length:	2,335 km
Regions :	Campania;
Requirement for use:	toll-free
Development condition:	2 × 2 lanes
	Campania region
	Under construction; In planning;

	Template: Infobox high-ranking road / Maintenance / IT-A
	Autostrada A2 in Italy
	Autostrada del Mediterraneo; Salerno - Reggio Calabria
	map
	Basic data
Operator:	ANAS;
Start of the street:	Fisciano ; ( 40 ° 46 ′ N , 14 ° 47 ′ E )
End of street:	Reggio Calabria ; ( 38 ° 12 ′ N , 15 ° 38 ′ E )
Overall length:	432.6 km
Regions :	Campania; Basilicata; Calabria;
Requirement for use:	toll-free
Development condition:	2 × 2 and 2 × 3 lanes
	The Favazzina suspension bridge between the Bagnara and Scilla junctions
	Campania region
	Basilicata region
	region Calabria

The Autostrada A2 ( Italian for 'Motorway A2') or Autostrada del Mediterraneo is an Italian motorway in the south of the country that leads from Fisciano / Salerno ( Campania ) to Villa San Giovanni / Reggio Calabria ( Calabria ). The A2 is part of Europastraße 45 , Europastraße 90 , Europastraße 841, 495 km long and toll-free . Originally the Autobahn had the number A3, but this was given up in December 2016 in favor of the number A2.

meaning

The A2 is of great importance for the south of Italy, as it is the main connection to the capital Rome and the economically strong north of the country . It also significantly shortens the travel time for the southern Italian “ guest workers ” who want to visit their homeland. The A2 connects to today's A3 at Salerno and then to the A30 (to Caserta and on to the A1 to Rome and Milan ; formerly A2). The island of Sicily can also be reached in a short time by ferry via the exit Villa San Giovanni . In Reggio Calabria the A2 meets the RA4 , part of the European route 90.

Viadotto Sfalassà

Viadotto Rago

Viadotto Italia

Refurbished motorway bridge near Nocera Terinese

history

Today's A2 was initially planned and built as the A3. Construction of the original A3 Autostrada began in 1962.

When by far the longest section of the motorway was opened to traffic in 1974 (Salerno - Reggio Calabria, 443 km), it was celebrated as the largest work ever realized by the Italian state. The south was finally connected to the north by motorway - you didn't even have to pay a fee to use it. In the course of the A3, some of the most important motorway bridges of their time were built, such as the Viadotto Italia , the Viadotto Sfalassà or the Viadotto Rago .

In the meantime, however, the condition of this section was desolate. Modernization work had to be carried out constantly, which meant that only one lane could be used for long stretches of the A2 . In addition, the maximum speed in the construction site areas is on z. T. 60 km / h or even 40 km / h reduced. In addition, there are a large number of unlit tunnels , in which the ceiling is crumbling in places, on sharp right and left turns, potholes , missing guard rails , missing hard shoulders , outdated and rusty road signs and missing lane markings . Furthermore, numerous junction points no longer meet European standards due to their short or nonexistent acceleration and deceleration lanes.

Renewal from 1997

Autostrada A2 - status of work in April 2015 (green: completed; orange: under construction; red: pending)

The desolate condition finally made a general overhaul or - on those sections where the increased requirements demanded - a new building necessary. In parts, the new A3 runs on a different route than the old one from the 1970s. The geographical conditions make progress difficult. New tunnels and new bridges need to be built; tight curves are softened by a larger radius; individual connection points must be adapted to the applicable European standards.

Time schedule

Work began in 1997. At that time, completion was planned by 2003. But it was not until 2008 that a first main section, namely the six-lane stretch from the Salerno junction to Sicignano degli Alburni , was opened to traffic. In the following years, further sections in Calabria were renovated. In 2009 had Pietro Ciucci, the then President of the Italian highway authority Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade (ANAS), announced the A3 will be completed at the latest, 2013. However, that did not happen. Even after the approval of two further sections in July 2014, lines with a total length of 38 km were still under construction, and lines with a total length of 69 km were still pending. In 2013, 2018 was given as the completion date. The A3 has become the "best known example" of the delays and imperfections in the execution of public infrastructure projects in Italy.

The A2 runs through 190 tunnels and over 480 viaducts. The highest bridge, the Viadotto Italia in the province of Cosenza, is the second highest in Europe with a height of 259 meters. Once the work has been completed, the A2 will be one of the first Smart Roads in Europe: For the first 100 kilometers from Salerno to the south, it is completely wired and equipped with wireless internet. It should be the first motorway in Italy to enable autonomous driving. Some of the last construction sites were only closed at the end of 2017.

Costs and corruption

From 1996 to 2015, ANAS spent 10.8 billion euros on the renovation of the A3, with a further 2.8 billion euros budgeted for completion. Despite the extraordinarily high costs of around 26 million euros per kilometer compared to other European countries, a large part of the previous work was inadequately carried out, so that even renewed sections of the route are barely fit for traffic after just a few years. This was partly due to the lack of construction supervision by ANAS, which lost track of the approximately 1,000 contracted construction companies and consortia. Then there was the corruption in the ANAS, which also extended to the award of construction contracts for the A3.

The investigative commission of the Italian parliament for the screening of mafia structures ("Commissione parlamentare antimafia", short: "Commissione antimafia"), which was active from 2001 to 2008, dealt in detail with the A3. She described this motorway construction and that of the port of Gioia Tauro as “the epitome of modernization” (“metafore di una modernizzazione”) of the way organized crime works . The anti-mafia department of the public prosecutor's office in Reggio Calabria described the A3 as "the longest piece of evidence in Italy". Their investigations showed that the 'Ndrangheta had succeeded in infiltrating the long-term A3 project in almost every respect (planning, awarding of contracts, deployment of personnel, elimination of controls). Companies were also threatened and protection money demanded: In return, the clans "guaranteed" the safety of the construction sites. To back up their demands, they committed around thirty murders during the construction period.

By the beginning of 2016, more than 70 people, including entrepreneurs, trade unionists and local politicians, had been convicted of collaborating with the 'Ndrangheta, fraud, corruption and other crimes in the renewal of the A3. Francesco Emilio Borrelli, the leader of the Greens (“Davvero Verdi”) in the regional parliament of Campania ( Consiglio Regionale della Campania ), said the A3 “is an example of what is going wrong in Italy: bureaucracy, corruption, infiltration by the mafia and Rome's disinterest in the south ”.

Renumbering

On December 22nd, 2016 the A3, formerly known as Autostrade del Sole, between Salerno and Reggio Calabria was renamed Autostrada del Mediterraneo with the number A2.

Extension of the motorway

The expansion of the RA2 into a motorway is to be commissioned in 2020/2021 . The lanes are widened and provided with a hard shoulder. Furthermore, the entire route is to flow into the A16 at the Avellino est junction . For this purpose, the section of the A2 between the two nodes with the A30 and the A2dir NA will also be expanded with 3 lanes per direction of travel. After completion of the construction work, the entire RA2 is to be upgraded to a section of the A2. The introduction of a toll is planned for this section.

Branch Napoli

The Napoli junction (ital. Diramazione Napoli) is a 2,335 km long motorway junction that connects the A2 motorway from Fratte (district of Salerno) with the A3 motorway and connects the center of Salerno and the Amalfi Coast.

Until June 13, 2017, the junction was an essential part of the A3 Napoli-Reggio Calabria motorway.

Reggio Calabria junction

The Reggio Calabria junction (ital. Diramazione Reggio Calabria) is a 9.048 km long motorway junction that connects the A2 motorway from Villa San Giovanni to Reggio Calabria and ends at a fork on the tangent of Reggio Calabria.

This section was also included in the plan to modernize the traffic artery as part of construction lot 6, which extends over 10 km from Scilla to Campo Calabro and was removed in 2007 by the then Mayor of Reggio Giuseppe Scopelliti in order to avoid traffic obstructions. A large part of the section has been undergoing renovation since summer 2018, the completion of the construction work originally planned for December 2019 but postponed to June 2020.

Until June 13, 2017, the junction was an essential part of the A3 Napoli-Reggio Calabria motorway.

Web links

Commons : Images of the former A2 Rome - Naples - collection of images, videos and audio files

Commons : Pictures of today's A2 (ex A3) - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

La storia della Salerno-Reggio Calabria (Italian)
Streets of Anas (Italian)
Deutschlandfunk : The endless motorway

Individual evidence

^ Rachel Donadio: Italy's Mafia Highway . In: The world . October 11, 2012

↑ Oliver Meiler: Cross of the South. In Italy there is now a motorway to Reggio Calabria . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 2, 2018, p. 3.

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↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Andrea Spalinger: Italy's eternal construction site. Nobody believes that the Salerno-Reggio Calabria motorway will be finished anytime soon . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of February 19, 2016, p. 7.
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↑ For details of the planning, see the 2005 edition of the Azienda Nazionale Autonoma delle Strade (ANAS) yearbook: Il Libro Bianco delle Strade 2005. Un Anno di Attività . Rome 2006. In it the chapter 6.1 written by Vincenzo Pozzi: L'autostrada A3 Salerno - Reggio Calabria (pp. 145–164).
↑ Calabria Indipendente: Salerno-Reggio Calabria, Ciucci: “Pronta entro 2012-2013” , accessed on August 5, 2014.
↑ Il Lametino: A3, aperto tratto ammodernato tra svincolo e torrente Randace , accessed on August 5, 2014.
^ Romina Spina: Italy's Eternal Construction Sites. Started and never finished - the standstill has serious consequences . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of March 12, 2015, p. 7.
^ Structures along the A2
↑ Dominik Straub: Expensive and mafia-like: Italy's A3 motorway is ready. In: derstandard.at, January 9, 2017.
↑ Final report of the Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare of February 19, 2008, pp. 100-106 (chapter La Salerno - Reggio Calabria ).
↑ Final report of the Commissione parlamentare di inchiesta sul fenomeno della criminalità organizzata mafiosa o similare of February 19, 2008, p. 240.
↑ Ambros Waibel: The Cathedral of the Mafia . In: taz, January 19, 2011, accessed February 25, 2016.
↑ Dominik Straub: Expensive and mafia-like: Italy's A3 motorway is ready. In: derstandard.at, January 9, 2017.
↑ [1] , Italian
↑ [ingorgo-di-incompiute-disagi-e-fondi-a-rischio-1.2450123], Italian

[1] Rachel Donadio: Italy's Mafia Highway . In: The world . October 11, 2012

[2] Oliver Meiler: Cross of the South. In Italy there is now a motorway to Reggio Calabria . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung of January 2, 2018, p. 3.


Motorways (Autostrade)	A 1 • A 2 • A 3 • A 4 • A 5 • A 6 • A 7 • A 8 • A 9 • A 10 • A 11 • A 12 • A 13 • A 14 • A 15 • A 16 • A 18 • A 19 • A 20 • A 21 • A 22 • A 23 • A 24 • A 25 • A 26 • A 27 • A 28 • A 29 • A 30 • A 31 • A 32 • A 33 • A 34 • A 35 • A 36 • A 91 • Catania – Siracusa • Sistiana – Rabuiese • Pedemontana Veneta
City bypasses (tangents) (Autostrade tangenziali)	A 50 • A 51 • A 52 • A 53 • A 54 • A 55 • A 56 • A 57 • A 58 • A 59 • A 60 • A 90 / GRA
Motorway junctions (Diramazioni autostradali)	A 1dir • A 1var • A 2dirNA • A 2dirRC • A 4 / A 5 • A 8 / A 26 • A 11 / A 12 • A 14dir • A 18dir • A 19dir • A 21dir • A 21racc • A 26 / A 4 • A 26 / A 7 • A 29dir • A 29dirA • A 29racc • A 29racc to
Motorway feeder (Raccordi autostradali)	RA 1 • RA 2 • RA 3 • RA 4 • RA 5 • RA 6 • RA 8 • RA 9 • RA 10 • RA 11 • RA 12 • RA 13 • RA 14 • RA 15 • RA 16
Tunnel highways (Trafori)	T 1 • T 2 • T 4
Highways in planning	Regional Cispadana • Nogara - Mare • Venezia - Roma • Roma - Latina
rededicated routes	A 2 • A 16 • A 17 • A 18 • RA 17 • T 3