The Tangenziale di Mestre

Mestre

Mestre is a city part of the comune of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.The city is connected to Venice by a large rail and road bridge, called Ponte della Libertà ....

(Mestre beltway), or Autostrada A57, was opened to traffic on 3 September 1972 in northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

Overview

The oOriginal design was to have this central dual carriageway

Dual carriageway

A dual carriageway is a class of highway with two carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation...

 to serve as the Autostrada A4 (motorway A4), and by each side another separated single carriageway

Carriageway

A carriageway consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally...

 to serve as local beltway (similar to what was built around Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

): but, high costs for a motorway that should not have so much traffic (after Venice, it could go only to Udine

Udine

Udine is a city and comune in northeastern Italy, in the middle of Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic sea and the Alps , less than 40 km from the Slovenian border. Its population was 99,439 in 2009, and that of its urban area was 175,000.- History :Udine is the historical...

 and Trieste

Trieste

Trieste is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is situated towards the end of a narrow strip of land lying between the Adriatic Sea and Italy's border with Slovenia, which lies almost immediately south and east of the city...

, at that time the border with the Iron Curtain

Iron Curtain

The concept of the Iron Curtain symbolized the ideological fighting and physical boundary dividing Europe into two separate areas from the end of World War II in 1945 until the end of the Cold War in 1989...

, which was heavy garrisoned in the event of an invasion from the countries of Warsaw Pact

Warsaw Pact

The Warsaw Treaty Organization of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance , or more commonly referred to as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe...

), and the opposition of conservationist groups to a double dual carriageway running inside a city, made the project to be stopped at a single dual carriageway, serving both as Autostrada A4 and local beltway. It had two lane

Lane

A lane is a part of the roadway within a road marked out for use by a single line of vehicles in such a way as to control and guide drivers for the purpose of reducing traffic conflicts. Most public roads have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each direction, separated by Lane markings...

s, and one emergency one, for carriageway.

Increased traffic

By the 1990s, it became year by year evident that a road designed to afford a 55,000-vehicle daily traffic could not be enough for a traffic increasing up to 150,000–170,000 vehicles (which about the 30% was made by lorries and similar) per day by early 2000s.

A first but temporary solution was to open a "third dynamic lane" on each carriageway: in the most trafficked hours, the emergency lane was suppressed, to be used as a lane for lorries and slow vehicles.

Passante di Mestre

A second definitive solution was to build the Passante di Mestre: opened on 8 February 2009, after about 4 years and a half of construction. It completely bypasses the Tangenziale di Mestre, finally separating Autostrada A4 from the local beltway.

Today, the "third dynamic lane" is still used, but daily traffic has greatly decreased. Speed limit

Speed limit

Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...

 is 90 km/h on faster lanes, 60 km/h on slower ones; a small part, near the intersection with Autostrada A27

Autostrade of Italy

The Autostrada is the Italian national system of motorways. The total length of the system is about 6,400 km. In North and Central Italy this is mainly as tollways, with the biggest portion in concession to the Atlantia group which operates some 3,408 km...

, has a 50 km/h to 60 km/h speed limit.

The old Tangenziale di Mestre has now to be called, more properly, Tangenziale di Venezia (with new highway identification code: A57): indeed, it is longer than the old Mestre one, because the Passante di Mestre bypasses all the area around Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, beginning west just after Padua

Padua

Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...

, going north almost to Treviso

Treviso

Treviso is a city and comune in Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 82,854 inhabitants : some 3,000 live within the Venetian walls or in the historical and monumental center, some 80,000 live in the urban center proper, while the city...

, and ending east near Quarto d'Altino

Quarto d'Altino

Quarto d'Altino is a town in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy. SP41 goes through it.The name "Quarto D'Altino" is composed by the prefix "Quarto" because the town was a quarter of a mile from the Roman city Altinum.-Sources:*...

. So that the old exits of Dolo

Dolo

Dolo is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy. It is connected by the SP26 provincial road and his one of the towns of the Riviera del Brenta.-Sources:*...

 and Mira

Mira, Italy

Mira is a comune in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy.It is crossed by SR11 Regional road. The main attraction are the Villa Foscari, designed by Andrea Palladio, and the Villa Widmann-Foscari....

, before part of Autostrada A4, are today part of the Tangenziale.

The beltway is managed by Società delle Autostrade di Venezia e Padova and Autovie Venete S.p.A.

Route

Tangenziale di Venezia
Type	|↓km↓ (A4)	|Province
	Dolo - Mirano Mirano -People:*Federica Pellegrini , Olympic swimmer, multiple world-record holder and Olympic gold medalist....	248,6	267,7	VE
	Mira - Oriago	257,0	259,3	VE
	Barriera Venezia Mestre Mestre Mestre is a city part of the comune of Venice, in Veneto, northern Italy.The city is connected to Venice by a large rail and road bridge, called Ponte della Libertà ....	258,5	257,8	VE
	Venezia Marghera - Ravenna Ravenna Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...	259,0	257,3	VE
	Area Servizio "Marghera"	260,0	256,3	VE
	Venezia Mestre	261,0	255,3	VE
	Miranese	262,0	254,3	VE
	Castellana	264,0	252,3	VE
	Terraglio	266,0	250,3	VE
	Belluno Venezia-Tessera - Jesolo Jesolo thumb|250px|Location of Jesolo in the province of Venice.Jesolo is a town and comune in the province of Venice, Italy.-Geography:...	393,8	122,5	VE
	Marcon Marcon Marcon is a comune in the province of Venice, the region of Veneto, Italy.It contains the hamlets of Gaggio and San Liberale. It is bordered by Mogliano Veneto, Quarto d'Altino, and Venice.-External links:...	396,3	120,0	VE
	Quarto d'Altino Quarto d'Altino Quarto d'Altino is a town in the province of Venice, Veneto, Italy. SP41 goes through it.The name "Quarto D'Altino" is composed by the prefix "Quarto" because the town was a quarter of a mile from the Roman city Altinum.-Sources:*...	401,7	114,6	VE
	Barriera Venezia Est	407,2	109,1	VE
	Autostrada A4

External links

• A short history of the Tangenziale