The A26 at the beginning (opposite direction shortly before the end) at Genoa
The A26 on the southern ascent to the Turchinopass
The A26 was redesigned as a relief motorway far away from larger cities to bypass the A7, which in some cases still came from the pre-war period, with six lanes from the start (three lanes in each direction of travel) and Europastraße 25 was placed on top. The route had the consequence that several already existing motorways had to be connected to it via cross connections (Diramazione), such as the A26 / A7 , the A4 / A26 and their continuation A4 / A5 and the A8 / A26 . It was designed as the main connection between Northern Europe and the Gulf of Genoa and has connections in the north both to the Great St. Bernhard and Simplon, as well as to St. Gotthard and San Bernardino in Ticino.
It begins in Genoa Voltri , where it crosses the Ligurian Apennines northwards . In this section it leads over the Passo del Turchino in the village of Fado . Shortly afterwards, the link branches off to the A7 , the previous connection between Milan and Genoa. Continuing north, it reaches the Po Valley and Alessandria . North of Alessandria it crosses the A21 (between Turin and Piacenza). It then reaches the town of Casale and crosses the Po River . The junction A4 / A26 branches off to the north, which leads to the A4 and on to the A5 and to the Great St. Bernhard and Mont Blanc. Passing the town of Vercelli, it crosses eastwards from Novara with the A4. The A26 now follows the course of the Sesia River before it changes its course to the northeast at Ghemme and meets the junction A8 / A26 , which leads to Gallarate . The A26 now enters the Alps and passes through numerous tunnels on the west side of Lake Maggiore . At the north-western end of Lake Maggiore, the motorway reaches its end at Gravellona Toce and continues as the SS 33 expressway, which leads via Domodossola and the Simplon Pass into Switzerland .
history
The motorway was gradually extended northwards between the 1970s and 1995.
On August 11, 1977, the first section between Genova Voltri and Alessandria was opened . Just one year later, on July 27, 1978, the section between Alessandria and Stroppiana and the A4 / A26 connection until shortly before Santhià was opened to traffic, and on December 20, 1988 it was opened to Ghemme - Arona . The last section followed between Arona and Gravellona Toce , which was opened on July 14, 1995. On December 15, 1994, the connection to the SS 33 was completed.