The A1 motorway ( sl, avtocesta A1), also known as Slovenika, is long, connecting Šentilj (at the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n border) and Koper/Capodistria (on the shores of the

Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) to t ...

). It connects several of the largest metropolitan areas of the country, including

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

and

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, all the way to the

Slovenian Littoral The Slovene Littoral ( sl, Primorska, ; it, Litorale; german: Küstenland) is one of the five traditional regions of Slovenia. Its name recalls the former Austrian Littoral (''Avstrijsko Primorje''), the Habsburg possessions on the upper Ad ...

and port town of

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

. Construction began in 1970 and the first section was finished in 1972, connecting

Vrhnika Vrhnika (; german: Oberlaibach;''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120. la, Nauportus) is a town in Slovenia. It is the seat of the Muni ...

and

Postojna Postojna (; german: Adelsberg, it, Postumia) is a town in the traditional region of Inner Carniola, from Trieste, in southwestern Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Postojna.

. Everyday operation of this initial stretch started on 29 December 1972. The connection to Koper was finished on 23 November 2004. The second-to-last part, from

Trojane Trojane (; la, Atrans, german: Trojana''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 22.) is a settlement in the Municipality of Lukovica in central ...

Blagovica Blagovica (; german: Glogowitz''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 16.) is a village in the Municipality of Lukovica in the eastern part of ...

, was opened on 12 August 2005. It was also the most expensive, having eight viaducts and two tunnels despite being only 11 km long. The final section, the eastern Maribor bypass, opened on 14 August 2009.

Route description

The A1 motorway provides connection of Slovenia and Austria (only other motorway with border crossing to Austria being A2 motorway and was from the very start important route, because it connected three largest cities in Slovenia –

and

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. On the other hand, it also connected all those cities with Slovenian coast and provided better conditions for transit to

Port of Koper Port of Koper ('' sl, Luka Koper'', '' it, Porto di Capodistria'') is a public limited company, which provides port and logistics services in the only Slovenian port, in Koper. It is situated in the northern part of the Adriatic Sea, mainly con ...

. As of 2013 it is also the only motorway that is connected to all the other motorways in Slovenia. As of 2013 motorway always has at least two

traffic lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...

s in each direction and is rarely without

emergency lane A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wid ...

. On some parts it has three traffic lanes in one direction and two in another (usually the additional is for slow vehicles). Only Tunnel

Golovec The Golovec District ( sl, Četrtna skupnost Golovec), or simply Golovec, is a district () of the City Municipality of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ...

has three lanes in each direction. It was also planned that some other parts of highway will get additional lanes but most of plans were postponed due to lack of money.

Toll

Until 1 July 2008 all vehicles had to stop at tollgates and pay a

toll Toll may refer to: Transportation * Toll (fee) a fee charged for the use of a road or waterway ** Road pricing, the modern practice of charging for road use ** Road toll (historic) The road toll was a historical fee charged to travellers and ...

. Since that date

vignettes Vignette may refer to: * Vignette (entertainment), a sketch in a sketch comedy * Vignette (graphic design), decorative designs in books (originally in the form of leaves and vines) to separate sections or chapters * Vignette (literature), short, i ...

are required for all vehicles up to 3.5 tons, while heavier vehicles must still pay the toll at a tollgate. Tollgates are being rearranged so that two traffic lanes for lighter vehicles (with vignettes) are no longer divided by tollgates and vehicles can drive through at 60 kilometres per hour (37 miles per hour). Where tollgates are still standing as they were before 1 July 2008, the speed limit is 40 kilometres per hour (25 miles per hour). Since 2018, heavy vehicles need to pay toll with an electronic on-board unit attached on the windscreen and tollgates are not needed anymore. There are six toll stations for heavier vehicles Pesnica,

Tepanje Tepanje (, german: Tepina) is a village in the Municipality of Slovenske Konjice in eastern Slovenia. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now included in the Savinja Statistical Region. The A1 motorway and th ...

Vransko Vransko (; german: Franz) is a small town in central Slovenia. It is the seat of the Municipality of Vransko. It lies on the western edge of the Savinja Valley. This area is part of the traditional region of Styria. The municipality is now part o ...

, Kompolje,

Log Log most often refers to: * Trunk (botany), the stem and main wooden axis of a tree, called logs when cut ** Logging, cutting down trees for logs ** Firewood, logs used for fuel ** Lumber or timber, converted from wood logs * Logarithm, in mathe ...

and Videž. For R3 group it ranges from €3.40 to €19.60, together €47.10 at daytime (6 AM-10 PM) and from €3.00 to €17.60, together €42.30 at night (10 PM-6 AM). For R4 group it ranges from €4.90 to €28.30, together €68.20 at daytime (6 AM-10 PM) and from €4.40 to €25.50, together €61.40 at night (10 PM-6 AM).

Notable structures

When most parts of motorway were already done, there came two parts that were something special, meaning tunnels near

with most notable being Tunnel Trojane with length of almost 3 kilometres and thus second longest tunnel in Slovenia (the longest being

Karavanke The Karawanks or Karavankas or Karavanks ( sl, Karavanke; german: Karawanken, ) are a mountain range of the Southern Limestone Alps on the border between Slovenia to the south and Austria to the north. With a total length of in an east–west dir ...

Tunnel) and viaduct

Črni Kal Črni Kal (; it, San Sergio) is a village in southwestern Slovenia in the City Municipality of Koper. It is best known today for the Črni Kal Viaduct, the longest and the highest viaduct in Slovenia. Name The name ''Črni Kal'' literally means ...

, the longest viaduct in Slovenia, being longer than 1 kilometer and also 95 metres high.

Junction list

Tunnels

The motorway includes ten tunnels, two galleries and one covered cut: * Gallery

Dragučova Dragučova ( or ) is a settlement in the Municipality of Pesnica in northeastern Slovenia. It lies in the hills northeast of Maribor on the edge of the Pesnica Valley. The area is part of the traditional region of Styria. It is now included in th ...

right and left *

Vodole Vodole (, german: Wadlberg) is a dispersed settlement in the hills northeast of Maribor in northeastern Slovenia. It is a part of the City Municipality of Maribor. Name Vodole was attested in written sources as ''Wodul'' in 1259 (and as ''Wodel'' ...

right , Vodole left * Covered cut

Malečnik Malečnik (, german: Maletschnig) is a village on the left bank of the Drava River east of Maribor in northeastern Slovenia. It belongs to the City Municipality of Maribor. There are two churches in the settlement. The local parish church is dedic ...

right and left * Golo rebro right , Golo rebro left * Pletovarje right , Pletovarje left * Ločica right , Ločica left * Jasovnik right , Jasovnik left *

right , Trojane left *

Podmilj Podmilj () is a dispersed settlement east of Blagovica in the Municipality of Lukovica in the eastern part of the Upper Carniola region of Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS'' ...

right , Podmilj left * Gallery Strmec right and left *

right , Golovec left *

Kastelec Kastelec () is a settlement in the City Municipality of Koper in the Littoral region of Slovenia. The local church is dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross and belongs to the Parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian den ...

right , Kastelec left *

Dekani Dekani (; it, Villa Decani) is a settlement in the City Municipality of Koper in the Littoral region of Slovenia. Name ''Dekani'' was first attested in written sources in 1328 as ''Decani'' (and in 1423 as ''Villae Canis''). The name is derived ...

right , Dekani left

Bridges

Ljubljanica bridge, A1 motorway, Slovenia

Motorway A1 has 101

viaduct A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...

s, 109

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

s, 129

overpass An overpass (called an overbridge or flyover in the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth countries) is a bridge, road, railway or similar structure that crosses over another road or railway. An ''overpass'' and ''underpass'' together form ...

in 117

underpass A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...

. Some of the largest viaduct in the A1 (span greater than ): * Kresnica right and left * Pekel right and left * Preloge right and left * Škedenj I. right and left * Ločica right and left *

Šentožbolt Šentožbolt ( or ; german: Sankt Oswald''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 16.) is a settlement west of Trojane in the Municipality of L ...

right and left * Petelinjek right and left *

right and left *

Verd Verd (; in older sources also ''Vrd'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 120. german: Werd) is a settlement south of Vrhnika in the Inne ...

right and left * Ravbarkomanda right and left *

Črni kal Črni Kal (; it, San Sergio) is a village in southwestern Slovenia in the City Municipality of Koper. It is best known today for the Črni Kal Viaduct, the longest and the highest viaduct in Slovenia. Name The name ''Črni Kal'' literally means ...

right and left * Bivje right and left The Črni Kal Viaduct is the longest

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

References

{{Highways in Slovenia Highways in Slovenia