A4 motorway (Serbia)

The A4 motorway (Serbian: Аутопут А4, romanized: Autoput A4) is a motorway in Serbia and it spans for 107 kilometers (66 mi).

Autoput A 4
Аутопут А4 Autoput A4
Route information
Part of E80
Length	107 km (66 mi)
Major junctions
From	E75 A1
	Niš, Bela Palanka, Pirot, Dimitrovgrad
To	E80 I-8 at Gradina border crossing
Highway system
Motorways in Serbia ← A3 A5 →

History

Ancient Roman road Via Militaris connecting Balkans, central and western Europe had similar route to modern-day A4 motorway. Old highway which is still in partial use was constructed during 1960s and 1970s. Soon it was found out that there are, especially during summer season, too many vehicles which made road unsafe on some parts. So in 1990s construction of modern motorway started.

Beginning of construction

The first section of the motorway were 3 km from Trupale interchange to Komren on entrance in Niš which was constructed in the period 1990—1992. After 1992, due to the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and UN sanctions towards FR Yugoslavia, construction of motorways in Serbia stopped until the wars ended. Construction of the Komren—Prosek section, which is usually referred as Niš bypass, started in 1998, but was cancelled due to the war in Kosovo and NATO intervention. Construction of this section was completed in 2006. Soon after, project of completion of the motorway started.

Construction of rest of the motorway

The first two sections on which construction started in 2010 were Pirot east — Dimitrovgrad (14.3 km) and Dimitrovgrad bypass (8.6 km). Next year, construction started on Crvena Reka — Čiflik (12.7 km), while in 2012, construction of Prosek — Crvena Reka (22.5 km) commenced. Finally in 2013, construction started on sections Čiflik—Staničenje (12.1 km) and Staničenje — Pirot east (16.6 km). First completed section was Pirot east — Dimitrovgrad in 2016, but it could not be opened until two neighboring sections were completed. The next two completed sections were Crvena Reka — Čiflik and Čiflik—Staničenje which were opened in July 2017.

In July 2017, section Prosek—Bancarevo (9.2 km) was also completed, but it was still not opened because Bancarevo — Crvena Reka section was not completed at the time.

In August 2017 first carriageway of motorway was opened of 5.1 kilometers-long part of section Staničenje — Pirot east from end of bridge Nišava 4 to Sarlah tunnel.

In September of same year, for traffic were opened last 7.2 km of section Staničenje — Pirot east (from exit of tunnel Sarlah to end of section), section Pirot east — Dimitrovgrad and first 6.8 km of Dimitrovgrad bypass (from beginning of section to Gradinje cut). Also, 1.2 km of half-profile motorway were opened on Dimitrovgrad bypass.

In March 2018, full-profile motorway was completed on 5.1 km-long part of section Staničenje — Pirot east on which first carriageway was opened in 2017. Also were opened another 0.6 km of full-profile motorway and 0.6 km of second carriageway on Dimitrovgrad bypass.

In June 2018, the last 0.6 km of the second carriageway on the Dimitrovgrad bypass was opened. In June, was also opened first carriageway on 2 km from bridge Nišava 2 to bridge Nišava 4 on section Staničenje — Pirot east, while the second carriageway on this part was opened in July 2018.

Route

Motorway begins at Trupale interchange near Niš, at the junction with A1 motorway and runs eastward, to the Gradina border crossing with Bulgaria, near Dimitrovgrad. The motorway is part of the Pan-European corridor X and is planned to be connected with the Bulgarian Europe motorway that will run to Sofia.

List of Exits

Nr		km	Name	Route	Places	Note
1		0	Trupale		Kragujevac, Belgrade, Novi Sad, Sremska Mitrovica, Leskovac, Vranje, Priština
2		2	Niš north		Niš, Niš Constantine the Great Airport
3		9	Niš east		Niš, Niška Banja
4		17	Malča		Svrljig, Knjaževac, Zaječar
5		46	Bela Palanka		Bela Palanka
6		70	Pirot west		Pirot
7		80	Pirot east		Pirot
8		96	Dimitrovgrad		Dimitrovgrad
9		103	Gradina		Dimitrovgrad

References