A26 motorway (France)

The A26 is a long French motorway connecting Calais and Troyes. It is also known as the Autoroute des Anglais (''Motorway of the English'') as its length forms the first part of the main route from the Dover-Calais ferries and the Channel Tunnel towards Southern and Eastern France and the Cote d'Azur. The motorway is used by a high proportion of British cars, particularly during the summer holiday season. The A26 between Calais and Arras (in conjunction with the A1 autoroute) is part of one of the two main routes between London and Paris, the other being the A16.

The road forms part of European route E-15 and E-17. South of its junction with the A29 autoroute the A26 is part of the Grand contournement de Paris.

History of the A26

The A26 was conceived in the 1960s as an upgrade to the "Grand Itineraire" Calais-Vitry-le-François which followed mostly the N44.

The first part of the motorway opened in December 1976 with the 23 km section from junction 5 at Lilliers to the A21 exit at Lievin. Subsequently, the 261 km Calais-Reims stretch was opened in stages, the final one completed in March 1989.

By the time the 96 km southern extension connecting the A4 autoroute and A5 autoroute opened in June 1992 it was the final link in the first continuous motorway route from Calais to Marseille and the Cote d'Azur that completely bypassed the Paris area with its associated congestion, reducing driving time from Calais to Lyon by approximately 90 minutes to around 6 hours. This section also made up the final part of an uninterrupted motorway route between the major cities of Lyon/Marseille and Lille without having to drive via either Paris or Belgium.

The road in its current form was completed in 2010 with the short extension southward from the old A4 autoroute which ran through the centre of Reims (now marked A344) to the new A4 southern bypass of the city ( Contournement de Reims Sud) along with the construction of the new closed system peage station at Ormes.

Route

The northern end of the motorway starts just to the southeast of Calais, at a junction with the A16 (5 km east of the Eurotunnel exit) and A216/ N216 (which links to the Port of Calais and the car ferries). From there it runs southeast past Saint-Omer, Béthune, Lens and Arras. Near Arras is a major intersection with the A1, which runs south to Paris.

The A26 continues southeast, passing near Cambrai, Saint-Quentin and Laon before meeting the A4 at Reims. The two motorways merge (multiplex) for , although for the merged section the route is marked A4, before splitting up again near Châlons-en-Champagne (formerly Châlons-sur-Marne).

The A4 then continues eastwards to Metz, Nancy and Strasbourg and the A26 branches to the south toward Troyes and Lyon. The current southern terminus of the A26 is just to the southeast of Troyes where the motorway meets the A5, which provides a direct motorway connection to Dijon, Lyon, southern and eastern France as well as Milan and The Alps.

The A26 is a toll (peage) motorway for all but junctions 1 to 3 (A16 to St. Omer) and a short section circling western Reims. The vast majority is maintained by SANEF except the very southern end south of junction 21 which is operated by APRR. There are 3 major (closed system) peage stations at Setques (St. Omer), Courcy (Reims Nord) and Ormes (Reims Sud).

Regions traversed

•Hauts-de-France
•Grand Est

Departements traversed

•Pas-de-Calais (62)
•Nord (59)
•Aisne