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 British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

cars, particularly during the summer holiday season. The A26 between Calais and Arras (in conjunction with the

A1 autoroute The A1 Autoroute, also known as l'autoroute du Nord (the Northern Motorway), is the busiest of France's autoroutes. With a length of , it connects Paris with the northern city of Lille. It is managed by the Société des Autoroutes du Nord et ...

) is part of one of the two main routes between

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, the other being the A16. The road forms part of

European route 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 ...

E-15 and E-17. South of its junction with the

A29 autoroute The A 29 is a major toll motorway in Normandy and Picardy, northwestern and northern France. The road is also part of European route E44. From its western interchange with the A28 autoroute until its junction with the A26 autoroute, part of the ...

the A26 is part of the

Grand contournement de Paris 400px, thumb The grand contournement de Paris (French for "Great Paris Bypass") is the fourth ring road around Paris, enclosing the three other ring roads ( Périphérique, the A86, and the Francilienne). The Grand Contournement is actually comp ...

History of the A26

The A26 was conceived in the 1960s as an upgrade to the "

Grand Itineraire Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

" 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 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. ...

and

A5 autoroute The A5 Autoroute, which was constructed in 1990 to relieve the A6, links the Parisian region with the Langres area. It is a 238 km toll road under the management of the Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR). It makes up parts of the European ...

opened in June 1992 it was the final link in the first continuous motorway route from Calais to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

and the Cote d'Azur that completely bypassed the

area with its associated congestion, reducing driving time from Calais to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

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

and

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the N ...

without having to drive via either Paris or

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The road in its current form was completed in 2010 with the short extension southward from the old

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 Getlink, formerly Groupe Eurotunnel, is a European public company based in Paris that manages and operates the infrastructure of the Channel Tunnel between England and France, operates the Eurotunnel Shuttle train service, and earns revenue o ...

exit) and A216/ N216 (which links to the

Port of Calais The Port of Calais in northern France is the fourth largest port in France and the largest for passenger traffic. It accounts for more than a third of economic activity in the town of Calais. Background The Port of Calais was the first cable ...

and the car ferries). From there it runs southeast past

Saint-Omer Saint-Omer (; vls, Sint-Omaars) is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department in France. It is west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais, and is located in the Artois province. The town is named after Saint Audoma ...

Béthune Béthune ( ; archaic and ''Bethwyn'' historically in English) is a city in northern France, sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department. Geography Béthune is located in the former province of Artois. It is situated south-east of Calais, ...

Lens A lens is a transmissive optical device which focuses or disperses a light beam by means of refraction. A simple lens consists of a single piece of transparent material, while a compound lens consists of several simple lenses (''elements ...

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 Laon () is a city in the Aisne department in Hauts-de-France in northern France. History Early history The holy district of Laon, which rises a hundred metres above the otherwise flat Picardy plain, has always held strategic importance. ...

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 Châlons-en-Champagne () is a city in the Grand Est region of France. It is the capital of the department of Marne, despite being only a quarter the size of the city of Reims. Formerly called Châlons-sur-Marne, the city was officially renam ...

(formerly Châlons-sur-Marne). The A4 then continues eastwards to

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand ...

, Nancy and Strasbourg and the A26 branches to the south toward Troyes and

. 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 Dijon (, , ) (dated) * it, Digione * la, Diviō or * lmo, Digion is the prefecture of the Côte-d'Or department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in northeastern France. the commune had a population of 156,920. The earlies ...

, Lyon, southern and eastern France as well as

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

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 Grand Est (; gsw-FR, Grossa Oschta; Moselle Franconian/ lb, Grouss Osten; Rhine Franconian: ''Groß Oschte''; german: Großer Osten ; en, "Great East") is an administrative region in Northeastern France. It superseded three former administra ...

Departements traversed

• Pas-de-Calais (62) • Nord (59) • Aisne (02) • Somme (80) • Marne (51) •

Aube Aube () is a French department in the Grand Est region of north-eastern France. As with sixty departments in France, this department is named after a river: the Aube. With 310,242 inhabitants (2019),SANEF 107.7 traffic coverage: North of Reims, it is in the northern zone and South of Reims, it is within the eastern zone.

Characteristics

The A26 is 2x2 lanes throughout and passes close to some of the most well known

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

battle sites as well as through the vineyards of the

Champagne-Ardennes Champagne-Ardenne () is a former administrative region of France, located in the northeast of the country, bordering Belgium. Mostly corresponding to the historic province of Champagne, the region is known for its sparkling white wine of th ...

area (which is now part of the Grand-Est region). It is built on mainly relatively flat, agricultural land and has many long, fairly straight sections and few steep gradients as a result. It crosses over, as well as through the valleys of the rivers Aa, Lys, Somme and Marne as well as le Méridienne verte, a millennium project to plant a line of trees the length of France along the Paris Meridian. The northern section of the motorway can be prone to strong crosswinds and heavy downpours and there are large wind turbines and windsocks visible throughout the whole length of the road. The motorway is characterised by European signage in brown pointing out sites of historical and cultural interest along its route. It is usually not one of the more congested routes on the French autoroute network. Like many

autoroutes of France The ''autoroute'' (, highway or motorway) system in France consists largely of toll roads (76% of the total). It is a network of of motorways as of 2014. On road signs, autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through ...

the A26 is completely unlit, relying on heavily fluorescent road markings to guide drivers at night. The road is well surfaced and maintained in comparison to most other countries' motorways. Signage is typical of the French system where destination is given strong prominence over road designation and signs are completely capitalised. After each junction there are two marker boards at the side of the road: Firstly, a white sign with information about the next exit with distance to it and the destinations it serves and secondly, a blue sign with distances to the motorway's main and onward destinations. Overhead gantries display destinations before the larger junctions and digital overhead gantries provide live information on anything from traffic, accidents and breakdowns to the weather. As with other autoroutes in France, along the central reservation every one hundred metres is a small sign showing the distance from the start of the motorway, starting with 0.1 km at Calais and ending with 394.0 km at Troyes. Along the 36 km stretch merged with the A4 these signs are not present as the distance markers for the A4 itself are given priority. They resume once the motorways split with the 36 km difference in distance taken into account. In order to continue along the A26 northbound or southbound after the 36 km stretch merged with the

, drivers must take the exit slips from the A4 at Reims (northbound) or

(southbound). Since the mid 2000s the final aire on the northbound side (Nortkerque) has been permanently closed due to its use by migrants as a boarding point onto parked freight vehicles heading for the UK. Since 2018 the Aire de Villefleur, the penultimate northbound aire has also been closed for the same reason. There are semi-permanent red and white plastic barriers in place to prevent entry to the aires. There is signage to warn northbound motorists that St. Hilaire-Cottes is the final chance to stop before the end of the motorway.

Opening Dates

03 12 1976 : Section Lillers - Liévin (Junction 5 - A21) 23 09 1977 : Section Liévin - Plouvain (A21 - A1) 20 12 1981 : Section Setques - Lillers (Junctions 3 to 5) 10 11 1982 : Section Plouvain - La Vacquerie (A1 - Junction 9) 11 08 1983 : Section Nordausques - Setques (Junctions 2 to 3) 27 07 1985 : Section La Vacquerie - Saint-Quentin-Nord (Junctions 9 to 10) 29 11 1985 : Section Saint-Quentin-Nord - Grugies (Junctions 10 to 11) 07 07 1987 : Section Grugies - Laon (Junctions 11 to 13) 16 12 1988 : Section Calais - Nordausques (A16 - Junction 2) 24 03 1989 : Section Laon - Thillois (Junction 13 - A344) 30 06 1992 : Section Les Grandes-Loges - Montaulin (A4-Est - A5) 23 11 2010 : Section Thillois - Ormes (A344 - A4-Ouest)

Junctions

Autoroute A26 - sortie n°3 Saint Omer, direction Nord-Sud

Future

For some years there have been plans to extend the A26 to

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

after 2025. and perhaps to Bourges thereafter but that is not programmed before 2030. The extension would, if completed, replace N77 and N151 as part of the second version of the

, upgrading the south-eastern section of the ring road to motorway standard.

References

External links

A26 autoroute in Saratlas
{{Autoroutes

A26 A26 or A-26 may refer to: Roads * List of A26 roads Transportation * Douglas A-26 Invader, a light attack bomber built by Douglas * Aero A.26, a Czech reconnaissance aircraft of the 1920s * Focke-Wulf A 26, a German Focke-Wulf aircraft * Blekinge- ...