From: Belgrade | Length 298 km | |
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To: Serbia – Montenegro border at Mehov Krš Districts Belgrade, Kolubara District, Moravica District, Raška District | ||
National/State Road 22, commonly known as Ibar Highway (Serbian: Ибарска магистрала / Ibarska magistrala), is an IB-class road, connecting Belgrade with Šumadija and Western Serbia and finally with Montenegro at Mehov Krš.
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Map of Ibarska magistrala, Beograd, Serbia
It starts with Orlovača interchange in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica and is going through several major municipalities such as Ljig, Gornji Milanovac, Preljina (town in the municipality of Čačak), Kraljevo and Novi Pazar. In the southern section, highway goes in parallel to the upper course of the river Ibar, hence the name.
Before the new road categorization regulation given in 2013, the route wore the following names: M 22 and M 2 (before 2012) / A2, A4, 15 and 32 (after 2012).
The road is a part of the following European routes: E65, E80, E761 (Čačak - Kraljevo) and E763 (Belgrade - Čačak).
With more than 18,000 vehicles passing the highway daily, it is one of the most frequent roads in Serbia. Often called the "black highway", it is considered the most dangerous road in Serbia, averaging nearly 500 deaths annually due to the traffic accidents. A single-lane carriageway, it bears heavy car and truck traffic between major cities of Belgrade, Čačak, Kraljevo and Novi Pazar, as well as transit traffic towards Montenegro, and occasional agricultural machinery is not unseen. If features long stretches of straight road interrupted by dangerous curves. Speeding, DUI and other traffic offences are major causes of accidents, most of them occurring during the night.
Planned motorway
In order to provide the faster link of Belgrade to the Montenegrin coast and alleviate the dangers of the Ibar Highway, the new A2 motorway is being built on a parallel route Belgrade – Preljina (town in the municipality of Čačak) – Požega.