The A6, also known as the Autoroute du Soleil, ''Motorway of the Sun'', (along with the A7), is an Autoroute in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, linking

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. The motorway starts at Paris's

Porte d'Orléans The Porte d'Orléans is one of 17 ''portes'' (city gates of Paris) in the Thiers wall, a defensive wall constructed in the mid-nineteenth century to protect Paris. The wall was demolished after the First World War, creating an open space that wa ...

and

Porte d'Italie Porte d'Italie is one of the city gates of Paris, located in the 13th arrondissement, at the intersection of Avenue d'Italie, Boulevard Massena, Avenue de la Porte d'Italie and street Kellermann, facing the Kremlin-Bicetre. The "gate of Italy" i ...

with two branches, numbered A6a and A6b respectively, that join south of Paris. Autoroute A6ab

The motorway is favoured by holidaymakers as it is the main link to the South of France and the

French Riviera The French Riviera (known in French as the ; oc, Còsta d'Azur ; literal translation " Azure Coast") is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France. There is no official boundary, but it is usually considered to extend fro ...

. At 455 km long it is France's third longest autoroute after the

A10 autoroute The A10, also called L'Aquitaine, is an Autoroute in France, running for 549 km (341 mi) from the A6 south of Paris to the A630 at Bordeaux. It is the longest motorway in France. It generally parallels the N10 Route Nationale, but d ...

and the

A4 autoroute The A4 Autoroute, also known as autoroute de l'Est (), is a French '' autoroute'' that travels between the cities of Paris and Strasbourg. It forms parts of European routes E25 and E50. It is France's second longest after the A10 autoroute. ...

. The A6 motorway used to be prone to severe

traffic jams Traffic congestion is a condition in transport that is characterized by slower speeds, longer trip times, and increased vehicular queueing. Traffic congestion on urban road networks has increased substantially since the 1950s. When traffic de ...

around

Fourvière Fourvière () is a district of Lyon, France, a hill immediately west of the old part of the town, rising from the river Saône. It is the site of the original Roman settlement of Lugdunum in 43 BC. The district contains many religious buildings i ...

Tunnel near

c.chauplannaz
prior to the opening in 1992 of

A46 autoroute The A46 autoroute is a highway in central France. It connects the town of Givors to Anse and eastern Lyon. It was completed in 1992. Characteristics * 2x2 lanes (2X3 lanes at Rillieux-la-Pape) * 65 km long * A radar speed trap has been ...

and in 2011 of the

A432 autoroute The A432 autoroute is a motorway in Lyon, France. It connects the A46 with the A42 and A43 serving the airport ''Lyon Saint-Exupéry''. With the northern segment of the A46 it allows the traffic Paris - Marseilles, Côte d'Azur to avoid L ...

which is also called the "Contournement de Lyon" and known as the "Lyon Rocade Est". A 200-kilometre (120-mile) stretch of the A6 motorway around Mâcon, Chalon-sur-Saône and Montceau-les-Mines, France, is known for the

A6 disappearances The A6 disappearances (French: ''disparues de l'A6'', literally the " emaledisappeared of the A6") is the name given to a number of mysterious disappearances or other crimes involving women and girls, occurring in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s along ...

, a number of mysterious disappearances or other crimes involving women and girls, occurring in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s.

Exit list

Exits are numbered from north to south.

A6b

References

External links

A6 autoroute in Saratlas

A6 APRR, the operator of the A6
A06 {{France-road-stub