The Süd Autobahn (A2) ('South Motorway') is a

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 ...

(''

Autobahn The (; German plural ) is the federal controlled-access highway system in Germany. The official German term is (abbreviated ''BAB''), which translates as 'federal motorway'. The literal meaning of the word is 'Federal Auto(mobile) Track'. ...

'') in

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 ...

. Completed in 1999, it runs from the outskirts of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

south via the cities of

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

and

Klagenfurt Klagenfurt am WörtherseeLandesgesetzblatt 2008 vom 16. Jänner 2008, Stück 1, Nr. 1: ''Gesetz vom 25. Oktober 2007, mit dem die Kärntner Landesverfassung und das Klagenfurter Stadtrecht 1998 geändert werden.'/ref> (; ; sl, Celovec), usually ...

to the border of

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Arnoldstein Arnoldstein ( sl, Podklošter, it, Oristagno) is a market town in the district of Villach-Land in the Austrian state of Carinthia. Geography Location Arnoldstein is located at Austria's southern border between the Carnic Alps and the Karawanke ...

, where it joins the Autostrada A23. With a total length of , the A2 is Austria's longest motorway.

History

Plans for the A2 originated from the so-called ''

Reichsautobahn The ''Reichsautobahn'' system was the beginning of the German autobahns under Nazi Germany. There had been previous plans for controlled-access highways in Germany under the Weimar Republic, and two had been constructed, but work had yet to st ...

'' system laid out after the ''

Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...

'' annexation of Austria by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in 1938. However, construction had not begun by the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

which terminated all road building projects. With the first cut of the spade on 6 May 1959, road works were inaugurated on a first section between

Vösendorf Vösendorf (Central Bavarian: ''Vesnduaf'') is a town in the district of Mödling in the Austrian state of Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine state ...

south of Vienna and Leobersdorf, the segment was opened to the traffic on 26 May 1962. By 1975, the motorway was completed up to

Seebenstein Seebenstein is a town in the district of Neunkirchen in the Austrian state of Lower Austria. It is often called the "Pearl of the Pitten valley" ("Perle des Pittentals") due to its preserved nature. Geography Seebenstein is in the industrial qua ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria (german: Niederösterreich; Austro-Bavarian: ''Niedaöstareich'', ''Niedaestareich'') is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Since 1986, the capital of Lower Austria has been Sankt P ...

, notably with three lines in each direction. A first segment in

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

between

Gleisdorf Gleisdorf is a town in the district of Weiz in the Austrian state of Styria. Geography Gleisdorf lies about 25 km east of Graz in the valley of the Raab Sister cities * Winterbach im Remstal (near Stuttgart, since 1961) * Nagykanizsa (Hunga ...

and

Raaba Raaba, also known as Raaba bei Graz, was a village, merged into Raaba-Grambach in 2015, in the province of the Austrian state of Styria and a suburb of Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-la ...

was already opened in 1969, followed by the section between Pörtschach and

Villach Villach (; sl, Beljak; it, Villaco; fur, Vilac) is the seventh-largest city in Austria and the second-largest in the federal state of Carinthia. It is an important traffic junction for southern Austria and the whole Alpe-Adria region. , the po ...

(then called ''

Wörthersee Wörthersee (; Slovene: ''Vrbsko jezero'', en, Lake WörthTesch, F. W. 1977. ''The Eel: Biology and Management of Anguillid Eels''. Transl. Jennifer Greenwood. London: Chapman and Hall, p. 195.) is a lake in the southern Austrian state of Carin ...

Autobahn'') in

Carinthia Carinthia (german: Kärnten ; sl, Koroška ) is the southernmost States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The main language is German language, German. Its regional dialects belong to t ...

in 1970. The route was completed with the inauguration of the last segment running from

Völkermarkt Völkermarkt (; sl, Velikovec) is a town of about 11,000 inhabitants in the Austrian state of Carinthia, the administrative capital of Völkermarkt District. It is located within the Drava valley east of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt, north ...

on 25 November 1999.

External links

Autobahns in Austria {{Austria-transport-stub