Motorway (Serbia)
The highways ( Serbian Ауто-путеви Auto-putevi , singular Ауто-пут / Auto-put ) are a type of road in Serbia and form part of the national trunk road network. They serve national and international traffic.
At present there are motorways with a length of approx. 660 kilometers, around 260 kilometers of motorway are being built. The planned motorway network is around 1100 kilometers. The most important and longest motorway connection is the north-south connection A1 . Other important connections are the west-east connections A3 , A4 and A5 and the north-south connection A2 .
The infrastructure in Serbia is gradually being expanded. The construction of the motorway in Serbia is being promoted primarily to support economic development. In the medium term, Serbia wants to have the densest motorway network in Southeast Europe after Croatia .
All motorways are charged (Serbian Путарина / Putarina ) and there is a speed limit of 130 km / h.
numbering
Since 2013, as a result of the reform of the numbering of the Serbian road network, the Serbian highways have been marked with an A as an abbreviation for Autoput and a number. In practice, however, this numbering will only be introduced with the renewal of the signs on the motorways.
Official Serbian authorities and the outdated signage on the motorways use the number of the respective European road instead. It is also common to define the motorway by naming the start or end point.
history
In the times of Yugoslavia
The position of Yugoslavia between the blocs and the financial aid from the West played a major role in the construction of the motorway during the Cold War . Already after the Second World War , the construction of a semi-freeway began, which was named "Road of Fraternity and Unity" ( Autoput Bratstvo i jedinstvo ), as it passed through the territory of four of the six republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Young people as part of the youth work campaigns ( ORA ) as well as members of the Yugoslav People's Army and forced laborers were involved in the construction of the semi-freeway . About 300,000 people worked on the construction of the semi-freeway. The first section was that from Zagreb - Belgrade over a length of 382 km, opened on July 27, 1950.
With the ever increasing volume of traffic in Yugoslavia, especially the transit traffic and the passing of many guest workers , the government realized that the road capacity of only two lanes (one in each direction) would not be sufficient at that time. The solution was to build a highway with two by two lanes.
The implementation of these plans began in the 1970s on motorways. Previously there were only local and regional roads, most of which were in poor condition. The Yugoslav government received a loan from the IMF to finance the project .
With this plan, the west-east motorway E70 was built in Yugoslavia, which was supposed to connect the economic and political centers of the socialist country. The west-east corridor, which followed the Jesenice - Ljubljana - Zagreb - Belgrade route, initially had priority . During the 1970s the construction of the highway between Belgrade and Niš began .
In the 1980s, a semi-freeway Belgrade - Novi Sad - Bačka Topola was built next to it .
At the beginning of the 1990s, the missing line from Bačka Topola - Horgoš was completed, but the line was not linked to the rest of the line through Hungary to Western Europe ( Szeged - Budapest - Győr - Hegyeshalom ). Linking the two (half) motorways would have opened up a new corridor between the port cities of Thessaloniki and Istanbul as well as Central and Western Europe . The Autoput was one of the most notorious roads in Europe until 1991: The sometimes poor condition and the heavy traffic - in addition to the many trucks , the route was completely overloaded, especially in the summer months - prevented relaxing trips. Drivers overtired by long distances and the straight stretch as well as daring overtaking maneuvers were the causes of numerous accidents.
Between 1991 and 1995, due to the Yugoslav wars, many borders between the previous republics were closed, making continuous use of the motorways no longer possible. The autoput was damaged in places during the wars. During Croatia War of today's Croatian was on all signs A3 to the east, the direction indication Beograd ( Belgrade ) is Lipovac (östlichster Croatian town on the highway) replaced. This has now been partially reversed.
present
Little was invested in infrastructure after the wars. At the time of Macedonia's trade embargo by Greece and during the Kosovo War , there were restrictions in transit traffic . Only after the fall of the Milošević government in 2000 did changes in road traffic become apparent. Oriented towards the west, the Đinđić government had developed plans to build the highways. The highways should be expanded according to western standards and so it came about that in 2001 the foundation stone for the Belgrade - Novi Sad motorway was laid. In 2002 Serbia had 420 km of motorways. In 2003 the first motorway from Belgrade to Novi Sad after the end of the Yugoslav wars was ceremoniously opened.
Investments in the motorway infrastructure are currently a priority, as their expansion is of strategic importance for Serbia . The Serbian Ministry of Transport justifies the expansion with the fact that the construction of highways will lead to an increase in employment and this would also have positive effects on the demographic development of Serbia. The integration of the Serbian road network into the European transport network should have positive effects for everyone in terms of Serbia's transit situation. Those responsible emphasize u. a. that with the expansion of the motorways bottlenecks in the traffic infrastructure would be eliminated and thus traffic safety and time savings would increase.
features
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A Serbian motorway usually consists of two directional lanes with at least two lanes and a hard shoulder.
Lane width
The lane width on Serbian highways is usually 3.75 meters. In the vicinity of large cities there are also highways with a width of 3.50 meters. When driving on a gradient of at least 4%, the shoulder is usually replaced by an additional lane.
regulate
The maximum permissible speed for cars without a trailer is 130 km / h. Vehicles that cannot travel faster than 60 km / h due to their design are not permitted on Serbian motorways. Right-hand drive applies . It is forbidden to overtake on the right, except on the right of a block marking or in a traffic jam .
lighting
The Serbian highways are completely illuminated within the exits. In addition, only sections of the route near larger cities and motorway junctions ( Petlja ) are illuminated.
Road Signs
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Most of the road signs in Serbia are written in both Latin and Cyrillic script . Along the highway from Belgrade to Niš there are still signs with only Latin script that date from the time of Yugoslavia . The newly opened highways or renovated sections only have signs with both variants.
In contrast to other Balkan states, there is no standardized motorway signage in Serbia, i. H. along the Beograd – Šid motorway there are e.g. B. Signposts on motorways that do not match those on the Beograd – Novi Sad or Beograd – Preševo motorway. For example, the city of Belgrade has put its “own” notice boards on motorways, based on the German model, and set them up on the city motorway through the center of Belgrade, although there are no other notice boards in Serbia. On the part of the public company Putevi Srbije (Roads of Serbia), which is responsible for the installation / removal of traffic signs on Serbia's roads, little is being done to make the motorway signage uniform.
Road surface
Most of the motorways in Serbia are paved with asphalt, but they will most likely have to be renewed every twelve to 15 years. Lately in Serbia it has also been a topic of making the roadways out of concrete, as concrete should survive a concession period of 30 years undamaged.
List of highways
toll
Tolls are compulsory on all Serbian motorways with the exception of the passage through the center of Belgrade on the A3 . In Serbia, the toll is always paid when leaving the motorway at all exit toll booths. As soon as they drive onto the autobahn, the drivers receive a receipt from the machines provided for this purpose, which proves where they have driven. This receipt must be presented when leaving the motorway. A corresponding toll is then collected based on the kilometers driven. It is not possible to bypass this procedure, as there are separate rest stops for each direction of travel and no possibility of turning back. Every vehicle is also registered at the toll booths via video surveillance . Euros are accepted at all toll booths .
In 2007 alone, Serbia generated around 190 million euros from tolls on the motorways. Serbian economists assume that with the completion of all motorways in Serbia alone, 500 million euros from tolls could be earned in one year. The proceeds are mostly used for renovation work on existing highways or for the construction of new highways.
Until 2008, the fees for vehicles with foreign license plates were more expensive than for domestic vehicles. Since 2009, the same fees apply to foreign and Serbian vehicles.
Web links
- Homepage of the public company "Putevi Srbije" ( Roads of Serbia ) ( Serbian, English )
- Website on the Pan-European Transport Corridor X in Serbia ( Serbian, English )
- Homepage of the Road Association of Serbia ( Serbian, English )
Individual evidence
- ↑ Blic Online : Mrkonjić: Koridor 10 za dve i po godine ( Memento of the original dated December 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ IHK: Business opportunities in Serbia
- ↑ Putna mreža Republike Srbije ( Memento of March 30, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Uredba o kategorizaciji državnih puteva ("Sl. Glasnik RS", br. 105/2013 i 119/2013) ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Serbian)
- ↑ Politika Online : Koridorom kroz krizu
- ↑ Trka sa Rumunijom i Bugarskom za Koridor 10
- ↑ a b Putarine usmeravaju šlepere ka susedima
- ↑ Less motorway toll for vacationers in Serbia ( Memento from September 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
