[17.03.08]

Closing holes in the system

Europe’s motorway network is growing, with new sections in Austria, Hungary, France, Croatia, Slovenia and Sweden.

Time is money – and anyone who has to crawl along country roads and through town centres knows just how valuable motorways are. Considerable progress was made last year in filling in gaps in the European network, and new sections are due for 2008 too.

Austria
22 km of the A6 motorway near Vienna has been opened, forming a continuous link between Vienna and Bratislava, the capital of Slovenia. The A6 goes from the Bruckneudorf junction with the A4 to the border at Kittsee.

The second tunnel will be added to the Katschbergtunnel in April, after which all the traffic on the A10 will go through the new half only. It is not until 2009 that both entrances will be in use. The second tunnel of the Tauerntunnel is due to open at the end of 2010.

Hungary
Two new sections of the M7 from Budapest towards Balaton have been opened, totalling 25 km. The last 35 km gap between Balatonkeresztúr and Nagykanizsa on the Budapest–Zagreb motorway is due to be completed in May 2008.

France
The drive from Lyon to Bordeaux has been faster since January: the new section between Thenon and Terrasson means that the A89 motorway from Clermont-Ferrand to Bordeaux is now continuous. The last missing links of the A85 from Vierzon to Angers, Langeais to Bourgueil and Saint-Aignan to Druye, have also been finished.

Slovenia
By the end of the year, the 89 km A5 motorway between Maribor and the Hungarian border at Pince should be finished. That means Maribor is linked directly with Budapest. Road building is also progressing in Dalmatia, with the 300 km A1 motorway between Zagreb and Split being extended by 37 km to Šestanovac.

Sweden
Anyone heading north will be delighted at the 750 km of non-stop motorway between Copenhagen and Gävle on the Gulf of Bothnia, which also connects Stockholm and Uppsala. The last 54 km gap between Björklinge and Mehedeby north of Stockholm was closed up in October. 

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