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The A8 motorway ((クロアチア語:Autocesta A8)) is a toll motorway in Croatia. It connects the A7 motorway near Rijeka with the road network in the Istrian peninsula via the Učka Tunnel. The road terminates at the Kanfanar interchange with the A9 motorway, which with the A8 motorway forms the Istrian Y road system. The motorway's national significance is reflected in its positive economic impact on the cities and towns it connects, as well as its importance to tourism in Croatia. The importance of the motorway for tourism is particularly high during the summer tourist season, when its traffic volume increases by about 65%. The construction of the A8 motorway and the Istrian Y can be traced back to 1968 when the Croatian Parliament decided to build a modern road linking Istria with the rest of Croatia. Subsequently, a bond to fund the construction was issued. The construction work started in 1976; in 1981 the Učka Tunnel was finished and a section of the route between Matulji and Lupoglav was completed as a single-carriageway, two-lane expressway. The Lupoglav-Cerovlje portion was the next one to be completed, in 1988. The route was extended to the Rogovići interchange between 1992 and 1998, and the remaining section to Kanfanar was completed in 1999 as a two-lane road. In 2011, the expressway route started to be expanded gradually with the addition of a new carriageway and emergency lanes, eventually making most of it a controlled-access highway; the expansion of the route's first section, between Kanfanar and Rogovići, was completed in October 2011. The route's full expansion to motorway standards – including six lanes and grade separation of all its interchanges – is scheduled by 2015, when a second tube for the Učka Tunnel and a new route connecting the tunnel to the A7 motorway are planned. Construction slowed down in the 1990s due to a lack of funding; therefore, a build-operate-transfer concession for the Istrian Y was granted to the BINA Istra corporation for a period of 32 years. All intersections found along the route are grade separated, except for a single at-grade intersection currently regulated by traffic lights; a new route is planned to bypass this intersection. As of June 2012, there were ten exits and two service areas along the route. The motorway is currently toll-free except for the Učka Tunnel and the Kanfanar-Rogovići section. However, most of the motorway is potentially a toll road using a ticket system, with each exit including a toll plaza except those of Veprinac, Opatija, and Matulji. The toll system of the A8/A9 Istrian Y is integrated: no ticket needs to be turned in, gotten, or exchanged when going from the A8 to the A9 or vice versa. ==Route description== The A8 motorway is an east–west motorway in Croatia, crossing the eastern and central parts of Istria. It connects the Matulji interchange near Rijeka, the largest city on the northern Adriatic coast of Croatia, to Istria via the Kanfanar interchange situated in the area of the city of Rovinj. The motorway represents a link between the A7 and the A9 motorway—spanning between border of Slovenia and the cities of Rijeka and Pula, respectively.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 url = http://www.huka.hr/Motorways-network/ )〕 This part of the road network of Croatia is also part of European route E751, consisting of the Koper–Kanfanar–Pula and Kanfanar–Rijeka sections. The route is economically important to Croatia, especially for tourism and as a cargo transport route. The road carries significant cargo and tourist traffic as the largest-capacity road link between the Istrian and Kvarner Gulf regions and the nation's capital, Zagreb. Most of the road has a design speed of ; the part meeting full motorway standards has a design speed of . The final segment of the route – between the Učka tunnel and the Matulji interchange – has a design speed of because of the mountainous terrain crossed and proximity of residential structures. The route originates in the Kanfanar interchange with the A9 motorway and the D303 road in central Istria, east of Rovinj. From that point, the A8 proceeds east towards the Žminj exit; there it turns north towards the Rogovići interchange with the D48 road. The latter represents the western approach to Pazin, the capital of Istria County. The A8 section between Kanfanar and Rogovići consists of four traffic lanes with a central reservation. Beyond the Rogovići interchange, the A8 changes direction once again, running generally to the northeast; it acts as a bypass around Pazin. It goes through rough karst terrain that requires three major bridges with a total length of ; the longest bridge is the Drazej viaduct, at . The road then heads toward Cerovlje, running along and near the Pazinčica river valley and the Cerovlje valley; this includes a bridge over the Pazinčica river. After Cerovlje the road runs for , through hilly terrain requiring bridges for about 10% of the route, to the Lupoglav exit and an interchange with the D44 road. Past Lupoglav, after going over the Lupoglav–Raša railway line the A8 heads southeast, until it reaches the D500 road at the Vranja exit and the western entrance to the Učka Tunnel; this is the third-longest road tunnel in Croatia.〔 The tunnel carries the route east, through part of the Učka mountain range. It represents the end of the easternmost section of the Istrian Y system (comprising the A8 and the A9 motorways) where a toll is charged; consequently, there are toll plazas adjacent to both tunnel entrances. East of the tunnel, the route runs northeast to the Matulji interchange with the A7 motorway and the eastern terminus of the A8 motorway. This section contains the Opatija and Veprinac exits, serving Opatija, Ičići, Lovran and other Opatija Riviera resorts. The elevation of the route's segment east of the tunnel drops from above sea level at the eastern portal of the Učka Tunnel to approximately above sea level adjacent to the Matulji interchange. An additional climbing lane is present along parts of this segment. Unlike all the other exits found along the route, the Opatija exit is an at-grade intersection regulated by a traffic light, while the Veprinac exit is executed as a partial cloverleaf interchange. Overall, the A8 is long with 10 exits along the route. A significant portion of the route has no emergency lanes as yet, but lay-bys are available intermittently along the route.〔 The traffic lanes' width varies along the route, being wide in all sections except between Cerovlje and Lupoglav, where the traffic lanes are wide.〔 The bulk of the route runs through forested areas, especially near the Učka range and near Pazin, with agricultural land in between those areas – most of it located between the Ivoli and Lupoglav interchanges. The final section of the route, near Opatija and the A7 motorway, runs through coastal areas affected by urbanization. The route crosses no major watercourses, although creeks adjacent to or spanned by the route drain into the Pazinčica and Boljunčica rivers, or directly into the Adriatic Sea in the case of watercourses flowing down Učka's eastern slopes. The Učka Tunnel contains a spring discovered during its construction and used for the water supply of Opatija ever since.〔 The route runs through an area subject to significant air temperature variations. The temperature extremes measured in the area of the route range from , imposing substantial maintenance requirements. The weather patterns prevailing along the route include: an average of three to four days of snow cover, especially in the central parts of Istria; high winds and gales east of the Učka Tunnel, recorded during, respectively, 15 and 54 days per year on average; and fog in the areas west of the Učka mountains and around Pazin, respectively occurring 80 and 50 days per year on average.〔 An automatic traffic monitoring and guidance system is installed along the motorway. It consists of measuring (of both traffic and weather), control (e.g., variable speed limits), and signalling devices located in zones where driving conditions may vary, such as at the interchanges, viaducts, bridges, and zones where fog or strong wind are known to occur. The system uses variable-message signs to communicate changing driving conditions, possible restrictions, and other information to motorway users. In the Učka Tunnel there are 83 security cameras, 538 fire detectors, 39 fire hydrants, 74 emergency stations, and five vehicle emergency lay-bys; the speed limit is .〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A8 (Croatia)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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