R 7 (Kosovo)

The R 7 Motorway (Albanian: Autostrada R 7, Serbian: Autoput R 7), also commonly Autostrada Ibrahim Rugova, is the longest motorway in the Republic of Kosovo[lower-alpha 1] running 129.8 kilometres (80.7 mi) in the districts of Pristina and Prizren. It consists of two traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each driving direction separated by a central reservation.

R7 Motorway
Ibrahim Rugova
  in use
Route information
Part of E60, E80, E851
Length102.8 km (63.9 mi)
26.7 km (16.6 mi) under construction
129.8 km (80.7 mi) planned
Major junctions
Southwest end A1 in Albania (end)
R7 in Vërmica (start)
Northast end M25 in Pristina (currently)
R7 in Merdare (future)
Location
DistrictsPristina, Prizren
Major citiesGlogovac, Kosovo Polje, Mališevo, Obilić, Podujevo, Pristina, Prizren, Suva Reka
Highway system
Roads in Kosovo

The motorway constitute part of a larger corridor connecting the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast in the southeast across the Albanian Alps in the northeast of Albania with Kosovo in the southwest.[1] As portion of the European routes E60, E80 and E851, it will be part of the Pan-European Corridor X. It is named in honour of the Albanian politician, activist and former President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova.[2]

The significance of the Albania-Kosovo motorway is reflected through its positive economic and cultural impact on the towns and cities within both countries it connects as well as its importance to economy of Kosovo. The construction of the motorway has rapidly increased as well as the level of transport in both countries.[3]

As part of the European route E851, it is the first motorway constructed in Kosovo linking the Albania border at the village of Vërmica with the capital Pristina. Construction of the motorway started in April 2010. It was finished in 2013 with the Vërmica-Pristina segment ending in Ðurđica at the M9. The highway is seen as part of the larger Vërmica-Merdare corridor ending at the Merdare border crossing with Serbia in eastern Kosovo. R 7 is 101 km long at a cost of €824 million. This highway, along with the A1 Motorway in Albania, have set the travel time from Pristina to Tirana to 3 hours.[4] Once the remaining E80 Pristina-Merdare section project will be finalized and completed, the motorway will link Kosovo through the present E80 highway with the Pan-European corridor X (E75) near Niš.

Description

The R 7 Motorway represent a major southwest–northeast motorway in Kosovo connecting the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast in the southwest across the Albanian Alps to Kosovo. It constitute part of the European route E851 starting from Montenegro across Albania to Pristina, the European route E65 starting from Sweden to Greece and the European route E80 starting from Portugal to Turkey.[5][6][7]

The motorway can be broadly categorised into two sections namely the southwestern section, from Morinë to Pristina, and the northeastern section, from Pristina to Merdare, respectively. The southwestern section is largely completed while the northeastern section is currently under construction.[8][9] When the northeastern section will be completed, the motorway will be part of the Pan-European Corridor X connecting Durrës in Albania with Niš in Serbia.[9][10]

The motorway spans 129.8 kilometers (80.7 mi) between Vërmica at the border crossing with Albania and Pristina. The route serves Prizren via M25 and Malisheva, Fushë Kosova and Pristina via M9.

History

Since the end of the Kosovo War of 1999, hundreds of thousands of Albanians have passed through the poor old mountain road to get to Albania's beaches.[11] It was clear that building a highway in both sides would "crystallize a year-round tourism industry and double the size of the Albanian market", while allowing both communities to rationalize agriculture.[11] Construction of the Albanian side began in 2007 and that of the Kosovo side in 2010. After both motorways were completed in 2010 and 2013 respectively, travel times have been lowered to two and a half hours or less, down from seven.[11]

The initial offer was to complete the Kosovo section of the highway for $555m (€400m). The price subsequently rose to $916m (€660m), to pay for 102km of road. In the end, the project cost $1.13bn (€820m) for what turned out be only a 77km stretch of highway.

Once finalized, the project will link the Adriatic Sea with the Pan-European corridor X at the E80 near the town of Merdar between Kosovo-Serbia border.

Exit list
No. Type Name Connections Destinations
1 Beginning of , Vërmica, at border with Albania
2
Prizren south Connection to Prizren South and Skopje, Macedonia
3
Prizren north R107 Connection to Prizren North, Pejë, and Gjakovë
4
Suharekë R117 Connection to Suharekë
5
Duhël Connection to Duhël and Shtime
6
Malishevë R119 Connection to Malishevë
7 End of , the road continues as for 24 km (interchanges to Gjergjica, Sllatine e Madhe and Fushe Kosovë are available)
8
Fushë Kosovë Connection to Pristina and Fushë Kosovë
9
Prishtinë south Connection to R 6 Motorway, Hani i Elezit and Skopje, Macedonia
10
Prishtinë northwest Connection to Pristina Northwest and Mitrovicë
11 End of , the road continues as /E80 to Podujevë and Merdare (border with Serbia)

See also

Notes
  1. Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Kosovo and the Republic of Serbia. The Republic of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence on 17 February 2008, but Serbia continues to claim it as part of its own sovereign territory. The two governments began to normalise relations in 2013, as part of the 2013 Brussels Agreement. Kosovo is currently recognized as an independent state by 97 out of the 193 United Nations member states. In total, 112 UN member states recognized Kosovo at some point, of which 15 later withdrew their recognition.

References
  1. "RRUGA 6: AUTOSTRADA PRISHTINE - SHKUP" (PDF). riinvestinstitute.org (in Albanian). 2015. pp. 13–28.
  2. "Sot përurohet autostrada Ibrahim Rugova". lajmi.net (in Albanian). 25 November 2013.
  3. "Sectorial Strategy and Multimodal Transport 2015-2025 and the Action Plan for 5 years" (PDF). kryeministri-ks.net. October 2015. p. 45. The construction of the highway Kosovo-Albania has rapidly increased the level of transport.
  4. KosPress (2010-06-08). ""Rruga e Kombit" filloj edhe në Kosovë" (in Albanian). KosPress. Archived from the original on 2010-09-07.
  5. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. "European Agreement on Main International Traffic Arteries" (PDF). unece.org. Retrieved 26 April 2011.
  6. "Western Balkans Investment Framework Infrastructure Project Facility Technical Assistance 4 (IPF 4)" (PDF). ebrd.com. July 2018.
  7. Western Balkans Investment Framework. "WBIF OVERVIEW TRANSPORT SECTOR" (PDF). wbif.eu. p. 3. The Orient/East-Med Corridor in Serbia includes the Nis – Merdare E80/R7 section, which continues into Kosovo and then Albania up to the Port of Durres, on the Adriatic Sea.
  8. Kosovo Motorway. "Project Description" (PDF). kosovomotorway.com. p. 1. BEGP has made very significant progress on the construction of the 102.8km Route 7 motorway from Morinë to North Pristina Junction.
  9. "Autostrada Durrës – Prishtinë së shpejti zgjatet deri në Nish". telegrafi.com (in Albanian). 26 September 2017.
  10. "Brnabic: Construction of Nis-Pristina-Tirana-Durres motorway to begin in 2019". serbianmonitor.com.
  11. Benet Koleka (June 28, 2007). "Highway set to bring Albania and Kosovo closer". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
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