&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Autostrada_A18_Italia.svg) | ||||
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| Route information | ||||
| Part of E45 | ||||
| Maintained by ANAS | ||||
| Existed | 1971–present | |||
| Section 1 | ||||
| Length | 77 km (48 mi) | |||
| North end | Messina | |||
| Major intersections | &sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Autostrada_A20_Italia.svg){kind=small} A20 in Messina&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:Italian_traffic_signs_-_raccordo_autostradale_15.svg){kind=small} RA15 in Catania | |||
| South end | Catania | |||
| Section 2 | ||||
| Length | 59.1 km (36.7 mi) | |||
| North end | Syracuse | |||
| South end | Modica | |||
| Location | ||||
| Country | Italy | |||
| Regions | Sicily | |||
| Highway system | ||||
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The Autostrada A18 is an autostrada (Italian for "motorway") 77 kilometres (48 mi) long in Italy on the Ionian coast of Sicily that links Messina to Catania. The motorway is linked to the A20 Messina-Palermo at its northern end and to the A19 Palermo-Catania through the RA15 Catania's Ring Road at its southern end. There is also a second stretch of the Autostrada A18, 59.1 kilometres (36.7 mi) long, on the south part of the island, running from Syracuse to Modica, and with the plan to extend it to Gela. It is a part of the E45 European route.
From the beginning it was planned to unite the two sections into a single motorway, from Messina to Gela, which would make it possible to optimize connections with the tourist areas and those in the eastern area of Sicily at the time undergoing industrialisation. The two sections of the Autostrada A18 are connected to each other, without interruption, through the Catania's Ring Road (from Catania Nord to the Passo Martino district), the Autostrada Catania-Siracusa (from the Passo Martino district to Augusta-Villasmundo) and the strada statale 114 Orientale Sicula (from Augusta-Villasmundo to Syracuse).