West end: Rome Regions: Lazio, Abruzzo | East end: Teramo Length 166 km | |
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Highway system International E-road network, Autostrade of Italy | ||
The Autostrada A24, or Autostrada dei Parchi (“Parks Motorway”), is a motorway connecting Rome to Teramo and all the way to the Adriatic Sea. Commencing at the Grande Raccordo Anulare (GRA - the Rome orbital motorway), the A24 runs broadly north-east past L'Aquila and through a 10 km tunnel under the Gran Sasso before reaching Teramo.
Map of A24, Italy
First planned in 1973 to connect Lazio and Abruzzo as well as the Autostrada del Sole and the Autostrada Adriatica, the route currently finishes at Teramo, with the remainder of the distance to the Adriatic Sea still under construction. The highway includes two long tunnels under the Gran Sasso massif, running West to East and vice versa, with each tunnel just over 6.3 miles in length. A third tunnel, dug adjacent to the two highway tunnels, houses the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (National Laboratories of the Gran Sasso), the largest underground particle physics laboratory in the world.
The route is currently managed by the Strada dei Parchi S.p.A..