The R 7 Motorway ( sq, Autostrada R 7, Serbian: ''Autoput R 7''), also commonly ''Autostrada Ibrahim Rugova'', is the longest

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

in the

Republic of Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a international recognition of Kosovo, partiall ...

running in the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

Pristina Pristina, ; sr, / (, ) is the capital and largest city of Kosovo. The city's municipal boundaries in Pristina District form the largest urban center in Kosovo. After Tirana, Pristina has the second largest population of ethnic Albanians and ...

and

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

. It consists of 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 and an emergency lane in each driving direction separated by a

central reservation The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also a ...

. The motorway constitute part of a larger

corridor Corridor or The Corridor may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''The Corridor'' (1968 film), a 1968 Swedish drama film * ''The Corridor'' (1995 film), a 1995 Lithuanian drama film * ''The Corridor'' (2010 film), a 2010 Canadia ...

connecting the

Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast The Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast ( — ) stretches in the Southeastern Adriatic Sea beginning at the Gulf of Drin in the north, across the port cities of Shëngjin, Durrës and Vlorë, to the Bay of Vlorë in the south, where the Albanian Rivie ...

in the southeast across the

Albanian Alps The Accursed Mountains ( sq, Bjeshkët e Nemuna; sh-Cyrl-Latn, Проклетије, Prokletije, ; both translated as "Cursed Mountains"), also known as the Albanian Alps ( sq, Alpet Shqiptare), are a mountain group in the western part of the B ...

in the northeast of

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

with Kosovo in the southwest. As portion of the

European routes The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...

E60, E80 and E851, it will be part of the Pan-European Corridor X. It is named in honour of the

Albanian Albanian may refer to: *Pertaining to Albania in Southeast Europe; in particular: **Albanians, an ethnic group native to the Balkans **Albanian language **Albanian culture **Demographics of Albania, includes other ethnic groups within the country ...

politician, activist and former

President of Kosovo The president of the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Presidenti i Republikës së Kosovës, ), is the head of state and chief representative of the de facto Republic of Kosovo in the country and abroad. The president is elected indirectly, by the Assem ...

Ibrahim Rugova Ibrahim Rugova (; 2 December 1944 – 21 January 2006) was a prominent Kosovo Albanian political leader, scholar, and writer, who served as the President of the partially recognised Republic of Kosova, serving from 1992 to 2000 and as President o ...

. 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 An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

of Kosovo. The construction of the motorway has rapidly increased as well as the level of transport in both countries. As part of the

European route E851 European route E 851 is a road part of the International E-road network. It begins in Petrovac, Montenegro, passes through northern Albania and ends in Pristina, Kosovo. Route * ** Petrovac (Start of Concurrency with ) - Sutomore (End ...

, it is the first motorway constructed in Kosovo linking the

border at the village of Vërmica with the capital

. 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 Merdare ( sr-cyr, Мердаре) is a village located in the municipality of Kuršumlija, Serbia. According to the 2011 census, the village has a population of 151 people. The administrative crossing between Serbia and Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, K ...

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

Tirana Tirana ( , ; aln, Tirona) is the capital and largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea ...

to 3 hours. Once the remaining E80

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 Niš (; sr-Cyrl, Ниш, ; names in other languages) is the third largest city in Serbia and the administrative center of the Nišava District. It is located in southern part of Serbia. , the city proper has a population of 183,164, while ...

Description

The R 7 Motorway represent a major southwest–northeast motorway in

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Euro ...

connecting the

in the southwest across the

to Kosovo. It constitute part of the

starting from

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = M ...

across

, the

European route E65 European route E65 is a north-south Class-A European route that begins in Malmö, Sweden and ends in Chania, Greece. The road is about in length. Route * **: Malmö ( ) – Ystad *Gap (Baltic Sea) ** Ystad - Świnoujście * **: Świno ...

starting from

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

and the

European route E80 European route E 80, also known as Trans-European Motorway or TEM, is an A-Class West-East European route, extending from Lisbon, Portugal to Gürbulak, Turkey, on the border with Iran. The road connects 10 countries and has a length ...

starting from

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. The motorway can be broadly categorised into two sections namely the southwestern section, from

Morinë Morinë is a settlement in eastern Albania, on the border with Kosovo. The Kosovo side of the border is Vërmica. At the 2015 local government reform it became part of the municipality Kukës. Morinë is an important stop on the highway that conn ...

to Pristina, and the northeastern section, from Pristina to

, respectively. The southwestern section is largely completed while the northeastern section is currently under construction. When the northeastern section will be completed, the motorway will be part of the Pan-European Corridor X connecting

Durrës Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the second most populous city of the Republic of Albania and seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of ...

in Albania with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. The motorway spans between Vërmica at the border crossing with Albania and Pristina. The route serves

Prizren ) , settlement_type = Municipality and city , image_skyline = Prizren Collage.jpg , imagesize = 290px , image_caption = View of Prizren , image_alt = View of Prizren , image_flag ...

via M25 and

Malisheva Malisheva, ) is a town and municipality in Kosovo. According to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (KAS) estimate from the 2011 census, there were 54,613 people residing in Malisheva Municipality, with Kosovo Albanians constituting the majority of th ...

, Fushë Kosova and Pristina via M9.

History

Since the end of the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the war ...

of 1999, hundreds of thousands of

Albanians The Albanians (; sq, Shqiptarët ) are an ethnic group and nation native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, culture, history and language. They primarily live in Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Se ...

have passed through the poor old mountain road to get to Albania's beaches. 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. 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. 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 102 km of road. In the end, the project cost $1.13bn (€820m) for what turned out be only a 77 km stretch of highway. Once finalized, the project will link 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 ...

with the Pan-European corridor X at the E80 near the town of Merdar between

border.

Exit list

Notes

References

External links

Kosovo Motorway Project
- official website, archived from th
originalKosovo Motorway (Bechtel)
- official website {{DEFAULTSORT:R07 (Kosovo) Motorways in Kosovo Roads in Kosovo Transport in Pristina District Transport in Prizren District Albania–Kosovo relations Pan-European Corridor VIII

Description

History

Exit list

See also

Notes

References

External links