Highways in Slovenia

Motorways in Slovenia in 2011

The highways in Slovenia are the central state roads in Slovenia and are divided into motorways (Slovene: avtocesta, AC) and expressways (hitra cesta, HC). Motorways are dual carriageways with a speed limit of 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph). They have white-on-green road signs as in Italy, Croatia and other countries nearby. Expressways are secondary roads, also dual carriageways, but without an emergency lane. They have a speed limit of 110 kilometres per hour (68 mph) and have white-on-blue road signs.

The first highway in Slovenia, the A1 motorway, was opened in 1972, connecting Vrhnika and Postojna.[1] Constructed under the reformist minded Communist government of Stane Kavčič, their development plan envisioned a modern highway network spanning Slovenia and connecting the republic to Italy and Austria. After the reformist fraction of the Communist Party of Slovenia was deposed in the early 1970s, the expansion of the Slovenian highway network came to a halt.

In 1994, the new country started the National Motorway Construction Programme (NPIA), effectively re-using the old Communist plans. Since then, 528 km of motorways, expressways and similar roads have been completed,[1] easing automotive transport across the country and providing a much better road service between eastern and western Europe. This has encouraged the development of transportation and export industries.

Highways and accessory structures in Slovenia are managed by the state-owned Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (Družba za avtoceste v Republiki Sloveniji, acronym DARS) established in 1994. As of January 2011, DARS is managing and maintaining 533.3 km of motorways, 73.3 km of expressways, 161 km of access roads and 27 km of rest areas.[2] Since the 1 June 2008, highway users in Slovenia are required to buy a vignette. 7-day, 1-month and annual passes are available.

According to the Slovenian Motorway Company Act valid since December 2010, the construction and building of highways in Slovenia is carried out and financed by private companies, primarily the Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia (planned to become at least partially private), while the strategic planning and the acquisition of land for their course is carried out and financed by the state.[3][4] The highways are owned by DARS.[5]

Motorways

Example motorway road sign in Slovenia

Expressways

Controversy

The apparent slower tempo of construction of Slovenian highways in the direction north-south, in comparison to the direction east-west, has been the source of some speculation in Croatian media, because Croatia had built many highways northwards (toward Slovenia), yet the other side has not yet followed suit, thereby impacting the connections of Croatia with western Europe through Slovenia.[6] This is despite some agreements on the official government level.[7] In particular this refers to the roads between Trieste/Koper and Istria/Rijeka, the route Ljubljana-Zagreb, as well as Maribor-Zagreb.[8] The officials from the Slovenian Ministry of Transportation have rejected claims that their road construction is lagging behind Croatia, saying that they are an exaggeration, as their overall kilometers of highway per person ratio and other statistics are favorable.[9] As of 2009, only one of the four planned highway connections was completed (Zagreb-Ljubljana) with the second one (Zagreb-Maribor) being planned to be completed by 2017. Pula-Koper and Rijeka-Postojna are both on hold, despite being completed on Croatian side.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Built motorways and expressways". Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  2. ↑ "Management and maintenance". Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  3. ↑ "Parliament Passes Motorway Company Act". Slovene Press Agency. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Državni zbor prižgal zeleno luč 300-milijonskemu poroštvu za Dars" [The National Assembly Has Given Free Way to the 300-Million Guarantee for DARS] (in Slovenian). Finance. 23 November 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Zakon o Družbi za avtoceste v Republiki Sloveniji" [Motorway Company in the Republic of Slovenia Act]. Official Gazette of the Republic of Slovenia (in Slovenian). 3 December 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2011.
  6. ↑ Benjamin Sutherland (2007-11-17). "A Freeway to Europe". Newsweek. Retrieved 2010-11-21. In Slovenia, insufficient road building is now a "bone of contention" with the EU, according to Charlotte Ruhe, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Helga Konrad, Austria's ambassador to Croatia, calls Slovenia's road bottleneck "a horror."
  7. ↑ Plamenko Cvitić (2004-02-03). "Autocestom od Rijeke do Trsta i Austrije do 2007." [From Rijeka to Trieste and Austria via motorways by 2007] (in Croatian). Nacional. Archived from the original on 1 July 2012. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  8. ↑ Ivan Dadić: Hrvatska srlja u brzu gradnju autoceste prema Mariboru i dovodi svoje građane u Zagorju u neugodan položaj iako Slovenci barem idućih pet godina neće napraviti autocestu od Maribora do granice. Valja reći da na tom području, osim na granici, nikada nema gužve tako da se s razlogom treba zapitati čemu sve to. Jedan od najvećih promašaja je i autocesta od Rijeke do prijelaza Rupe - Pasjak koju Slovenija neće nastaviti najmanje za idućih deset godina. translated: "Croatia is rushing into a quick construction of a highway towards Maribor and puts its citizens in Zagorje in an awkward position even though the Slovenes will not construct the highway from Maribor to the border for at least the next five years. In this area, except for the border, there is never a traffic jam, so this is really questionable. One of the biggest failures is the highway from Rijeka to the border crossing in Rupa-Pasjak which Slovenia will not continue for at least the next ten years." "Nedostatak strategije i pameti" [Lack of strategy and smarts]. Poslovni dnevnik (in Croatian) (Croatia). 2006-04-21. Retrieved 2009-08-23.
  9. ↑ "Ljubljana opovrgava da se autoceste u RH grade mnogo brže translated: "Ljubljana denies that in Croatia highways are built much faster"". Index.hr. 2005-06-23. Retrieved 2009-08-23.

External links

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