Autostrada dei Laghi
The Autostrada dei Laghi (literally: Lakes Motorway) is the name given to the Italian motorways A8 and A9 in the far north of the country . The A8 runs from Milan to Varese , while the A9 connects Lainate with Como . The name is due to the fact that the route leads to Lake Como , Lake Varese and Lake Maggiore .
history
On September 21, 1924, the first section from Milan to Varese of the later Autostrada dei Laghi was opened to traffic in Lainate . Thus, today's A8 is the first completed pure motor road in Europe, which was accessible to all citizens for a toll, but without separate lanes. So it was more of a motor road than a motorway.
The world's first crossing-free route was the AVUS in Berlin, it was privately financed and paid for. It was opened in 1921 and served mainly as a racing and test track.
The Italian engineer Piero Puricelli wanted to create roads that should be reserved exclusively for automobile traffic. The payment of a toll should also cover the construction and maintenance costs. It was quite an adventurous undertaking as cars were scarce at the time (in 1923 there were a little more than 80,000 cars on Italian roads). Nevertheless, because of “public benefit”, he received approval to put his plan into practice. One reason why the Autostrada dei Laghi was established was that the fascists came to power in Italy in 1922 . They wanted to stimulate the economy. They also saw the Autostrada dei Laghi as a “national achievement, it should symbolize progress, modernity, power and national greatness”.
The cost of the Milan – Varese section was Lire 90 million . On the day of the release a ribbon was symbolically attached to the car of King Viktor Emanuel III. severed. The road consisted of only one lane in each direction and was not free of intersections, which was more than sufficient for the traffic at the time. There was no real toll booth yet; instead, the toll had to be paid at a rest stop .
Almost a year later, on June 28, 1925, the 24 km long and 57 million lire section from Lainate to Como (today's A9) was opened to traffic. In the same year, the 11-kilometer Gallarate - Sesto Calende line was also completed. From 1924 onwards, numerous technicians and architects from different countries came to Lainate to study this new type of street.
The Como – Chiasso section was completed in 1960 so that there is a direct connection to the Swiss motorway network ( Swiss A 2 ).
Individual evidence
- ↑ The first autostradas in Italy. ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2011 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. wabweb.net
