Autostrada A22 (Italy)

Autostrada A22
Autostrada del Brennero Brennerautobahn
Route information
Maintained by ANAS
Length	315 km (196 mi)
Existed	1968–present
Major junctions
North end	Brenner Pass
South end	Modena
Location
Country	Italy
Regions	Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto, Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol
Highway system
Roads in Italy Autostrade State Regional Provincial Municipal

The Autostrada A22 (Italian: Autostrada del Brennero, Autobrennero, German: Brennerautobahn) is one of the most important motorways in Italy, as it connects Pianura Padana, the city of Modena and the A1 motorway to Austria through the Brenner Pass, located in the municipality of Brenner.

The operator of the road is Autostrada del Brennero S.p.A..

History

Yet in 1949, during the Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, it was designed a route, identified as E56, leading Scandinavia to the southest point of Italy. The current Autobrennero track was already part of that route plan.

The next step for the fulfillment of the project was the foundation of Autostrada del Brennero S.p.A., on 20th February 1959, that two years later was given the concession for the building and the following management of the highway. Autostrada del Brennero S.p.A. is still the company which curates A22 infrastructure. The motorway track was initially designed by Bruno and Lino Gentilini, assisted by senator Guido de Unterrichter. The first plan was then edited, and it was made up by two carriageway, 7,5 x 2 metres each. The project Verona-Brenner was approved by ANAS on 25th January 1962, while the segment Verona-Modena was approved during the following year. Later on, several plots of land had to be dispossessed, underpasses and flyovers had to be built (for both roads and railroads), 307 kilometers of power lines and 74 km of telephone lines even had to be moved away. It all required about 23 billion lira.

In 1963 it was approved the definitive track plan and, also thanks to international loans, the realization began. The first segment open to the public - 50 km between Bolzano and Trento - was inaugurated on 21st December 1968. The first motorway traffic between Italy and Austria occurred on 5th April 1971.

After the opening of other segments, the highway could be considered as definitely completed on 11th April 1974, with the inauguration of the section between Chiusa and Bolzano, resulting the most complicated one due to the complex infrastructural and engineering work. Overall, at that time 21 entrance-and-exit toll booth and 12 service stations were opened.

At that time the overall cost of A22 amounted to 243 721 821 000 lire, so about 780 millions lire per kilometer. Just in 1984 highway A22 managed to have its first net profit.

During the years, the expressway A22 had been subjected to few track modifications; mostly, toll booth have been opened or closed. For instance:

• "Bressanone sud - Zona industriale (= industrial area)": opened just for the ones heading north or coming from north. It is expected the opening toward the other direction, too;
• "Trento sud": opened on 3rd May 2011, costed 17,5 millions euro, including the new bridge above Adige;
• "Trento centro (= center)": only the highway exits have been closed since 23rd May 2011.

Nowadays, the motorway consists of 313,5 km of track, with 23 entrance toll booth, 22 exit toll booth, 6 security centers, 6 services centers, and 22 gas stations.

External links

• A22 motorway Official Website