R 7 (Kosovo)

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R7 Motorway
Albanian: Autostrada R 7
Serbian: Autoput R 7
Serbian Cyrillic: Аутопут 7
Ibrahim Rugova
The R 7 runs through southwest and northeast Kosovo.
  in use
Route information
Part of E65, E80, E851
Length102.8 km (63.9 mi)
26.7 km (16.6 mi) under construction
129.8 km (80.7 mi) planned
Major junctions
Southwest end A 1 in Albania (end)
R7 in Vërmica (start)
Northeast end M25 in Pristina (currently)
R7 in Merdare (future)
Location
DistrictsPristina, Prizren
Major citiesDrenas, Kosovo Polje, Malisheva, Obiliq, Podujevë, Pristina, Prizren, Suva Reka
Highway system

The R 7 Motorway (Albanian: Autostrada R 7; Serbian: Autoput R 7), also commonly known as Autostrada Ibrahim Rugova, is the longest motorway in the Republic of Kosovo running 129.8 kilometres (80.7 mi) in the districts of Pristina and Prizren. It consists of two traffic lanes and an emergency lane in each driving direction separated by a central reservation.

The motorway constitute part of a larger corridor connecting the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast in the southeast across the Albanian Alps in the northeast of Albania with Kosovo in the southwest.[1] As portion of the European routes E60, E80 and E851, it will be part of the Pan-European Corridor X. It is named in honour of the Albanian politician, activist and former President of Kosovo, Ibrahim Rugova.[2]

The significance of the Albania-Kosovo motorway is reflected through its positive economic and cultural impact on the towns and cities within both countries it connects as well as its importance to economy of Kosovo. The construction of the motorway has rapidly increased as well as the level of transport in both countries.[3]

As part of the European route E851, it is the first motorway constructed in Kosovo linking the Albania border at the village of Vërmica with the capital Pristina. Construction of the motorway started in April 2010. It was finished in 2013 with the Vërmica-Pristina segment ending in Ðurđica at the M9. The highway is seen as part of the larger Vërmica-Merdare corridor ending at the Merdare border crossing with Serbia in eastern Kosovo. R 7 is 101 km long at a cost of €824 million. This highway, along with the A1 Motorway in Albania, have set the travel time from Pristina to Tirana to 3 hours.[4] Once the remaining E80 Pristina-Merdare section project will be finalized and completed, the motorway will link Kosovo through the present E80 highway with the Pan-European corridor X (E75) near Niš.

  1. ^ "RRUGA 6: AUTOSTRADA PRISHTINE - SHKUP" (PDF). riinvestinstitute.org (in Albanian). 2015. pp. 13–28.
  2. ^ "Sot përurohet autostrada Ibrahim Rugova". lajmi.net (in Albanian). 25 November 2013.
  3. ^ "Sectorial Strategy and Multimodal Transport 2015-2025 and the Action Plan for 5 years" (PDF). kryeministri-ks.net. October 2015. p. 45. The construction of the highway Kosovo-Albania has rapidly increased the level of transport.
  4. ^ KosPress (2010-06-08). ""Rruga e Kombit" filloj edhe në Kosovë" (in Albanian). KosPress. Archived from the original on 2010-09-07.