A50 autoroute
The A50 autoroute is a French motorway connecting Marseille to Toulon. The motorway is 65 km and has a mixture of 2x2 and 2x3 lanes that run through mountainous coastal terrain along the Mediterranean. As such, it has some relatively sharp turns and steep gradients by French motorway standards, and some sections have a reduced speed limit of 110 km/h.
The first section between Marseille and Aubagne was opened in 1962 and was until 1963 part of the A52 autoroute until it was renumbered after the surrounding motorways were constructed. Most of the remainder between Aubagne and Toulon was completed by 1975. The road is tolled between Roquefort-la-Bédoule and Sanary-sur-Mer and is managed by ESCOTA and was the first section to trial Télépéage or Télébadge, an automatic toll payment system using a windscreen mounted sensor, in 1992.
At the eastern end of the A50, drivers can choose between entering Toulon by the RN 8 or crossing under the city by going through the tunnel de Toulon, which leads directly to the A57 autoroute and on to Hyeres and Nice. The southern carriageway of the tunnel finally opened in 2014, after some 20 years of planning and construction, making the tunnel a 2x2 lane two-way link between the A50 and A57. Until then, the tunnel had only a two-lane carriageway running east to west, which opened in 2002.[1]
Junctions
- Exchange A50-A55 Junction with A55 autoroute in Marseille.
- Péage
- 01 (Prado) Towns served: Marseille.
- 02 (Place de Pologne/Menpenti-La Capelette) Towns served: Marseille.
- Exchange A50-A507 Junction with A507 spur to A7
- 03 (La Pomme) Towns served: Marseille.
- Service Area: La Pomme
- 04 (La Valentine) Towns served: Saint-Marcel
- 05 (La Penne) Towns served: La-Penne-sur-Huveaune
- Exchange A50-A501 Junction with A501 spur to A52
- 00 (Aubagne Sud-A502) Towns served: Junction with A502 spur to D8n and Aubagne
- 00 Exchange A52-A50 Junction with A52 to Aix.
- 06 (Carnoux) Towns served: Carnoux-en-Provence
- 07 (La Bédoule-nord/sud) Towns served: Roquefort-la-Bédoule
- 08 (Cassis) Towns served: Cassis
- Péage de La Ciotat
- 09 (La Ciotat) Towns served: La Ciotat
- 10 (Les Lecques) Towns served: Les Lecques
- 11 (La Cadière-d'Azur) Towns served: Le Beausset
- Péage de Bandol
- 12 (Bandol) Towns served: Bandol
- Rest Area: Sanary
- 13 (Ollioules) Towns served: Ollioules
- 14 (Châteauvallon) Towns served: La Seyne-sur-Mer
- 15 (Toulon-Ouest/La Seyne-Centre/Arsenal) Towns served: Port and town of Toulon, La Seyne-sur-Mer
- 16 (Bon Rencontre) Towns served: Beauclaire, Toulon
- Autoroute becomes the N8 into Toulon and to the A57 to Nice.
References
- ^ Var Matin, ed. (February 6, 2014). "Le second tube du tunnel de Toulon ouvrira le 18 mars" (in French).