The first motorway in the world is located in Italy and today is known as the A8 or the Autostrada dei Laghi. The September 21, 1924 It was inaugurated by the King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele III, and the engineer who designed it, Piero Puricelli. After 100 years, to celebrate this anniversary, it was decided to cross it again with a procession of historic vehicles.
The celebrations will begin on Saturday at the Villoresi Ovest service area, a symbolic location on the A8 motorway, with a ceremony attended by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Matthew Salvini; the President of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana; the CEO of Autostrade per l’Italia, Roberto Tomasi; the President of the Automobile Club of Italy, Angelo Sticchi Damiani, and the CEO of Autogrill, Massimiliano Santoro.
On Sunday 22nd September the Automotoclub Storico Italiano and its Federated Clubs of Lombardy will travel along the A8 Milano-Laghi with vintage cars and motorcycles built until 1945.
The centenary anniversary will also be remembered throughout the network. During the weekend, in fact, on the variable message panels present along all the routes managed by Aspi, the message will appear “1924-2024 ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF MOTORWAYS”, while on the Infomoving circuit screens, present in over 200 service areas, the program will be shown a video on air which will retrace the history of the A8, with archive images from its construction to its current 5-lane configuration. Finally, to commemorate the construction of the Milan-Varese motorway, ACI will donate two different totemcreated by the artist Lorenzo Martinoli.
Where and when the procession passes
The event, organized by ASI in collaboration with the Lombardy Region, with the support of Autostrade per l’Italia and with the patronage of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, the Chamber of Deputies, the Municipalities of Milan, Varese and Linate, starts on Sunday 22 September from Lombardy Region Palace to get to Piazza della Repubblica Varese parading along Via Volta.
“Among the many records that Italy can boast, there is also that of the first motorway – said Alberto Scuro, President of ASI -. Today, millions of vehicles pass through the Milano-Laghi and ASI is proud to celebrate the work and the men who created it. The protection and promotion of historic motoring also involves the dissemination of companies connected to it, so that experience and history can lead us to a better future“.
Highways for Italy
A8 Motorway, Milan-Varese or Autostrada dei Laghi
Because we can say it was the “first”
At a time when the majority of the population traveled by animal-drawn carts, bicycles or trains, some highways already existed. New York (Long Island Motor Parkway) e a Berlin (Automobil Verkehrs und Übungs-Straße), but they were designed and built only for motor racing and private traffic.
The “modern” concept of highway, or rather a road reserved for fast traffic and to cars only, was born instead with the Milan-Varese. It was she who received the certification of first toll highway in the world, a definition later perfected with Royal Decree no. 1740 of 1933, which identifies motorways as reserved for motor vehicles only.
The engineer who worked on it was Puricelli, who had already authored the six-handed project in 1922, with Arturo Mercanti and the engineer Alfredo Rosselli, of the Monza racetrack.
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Milan-Varese Highway, historical photos
How much did the toll cost 100 years ago?
Today, there are over 50 million vehicles in circulation in Italy, in 1924 there were just under 85 thousand (about 57 thousand cars, 25 thousand trucks and about 2,500 buses). The Milan-Laghi motorway was built with a single lane in each direction, a width varying from 11 to 14 meters and a pavement made of concrete slabs 18 to 20 cm thick. The route is almost completely straightwith few curves with a radius of no less than 400 metres and with gradients contained within 3%.
The work costs 90 million lire of the time (corresponding to the same amount today in euros) and to build it over 4,000 workers worked even at night moving 2 million cubic meters of earth. To prepare and lay the concrete, five Koehring-Paving concrete mixers were even brought from the United States.
The new highway includes immediately toll booths and tolls; the Milan toll booth was not built where it is today but further back, at the end of Viale Certosa. The toll is not paid at the toll booths but in the service and parking areas, which are mandatory; the rates vary based on the type of vehicles and to their power:
- 9 lire for motorbikes;
- 12 lire for vehicles up to 17 horsepower;
- 17 lire for vehicles between 17 and 26 horsepower;
- 20 lire for vehicles over 26 horsepower;
- from 40 to 60 lire for buses depending on length.
A 20% discount is practiced for the return ticket, to be held exclusively between 6 in the morning and 1 at night, the opening and service hours of the arterial road. Until 1946, in addition, the toll collectors were required to wear the company uniform and to salute militarily the passage of every vehicle, entering and exiting.
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Milan-Varese Highway, historical photos
Source: it.motor1.com
