Autobahns of Austria

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The autobahn sign

The Autobahn is the national freeway system of Austria. Austrian autobahns have general speed limits of 130 km/h (80 mph). Since May 2006, a maximum speed of 160 km/h has been tested on a short stretch of autobahn.

1 History
2 Autobahn system
3 Tolls
4 Traffic laws and enforcement
5 External information

[edit] History

The first autobahn in Austria was the A1 (called "Westautobahn") from Salzburg to Vienna. It was built by order of Adolf Hitler during World War II as part of the Reichsautobahn system.

[edit] Autobahn system

Austria has 16 autobahns with a total length of 1677 km. The system is going to be expanded; one autobahn is currently under construction, and two more are planned. The cheaper Schnellstraßen system supports the autobahnen system. To use Schnellstraßen, a vignette or a Go-Box is also required. Schnellstraßen are very similar with the autobahns; the chief difference is that they are more cheaply built (for instance: they are not as straight as autobahns).

[edit] Tolls

Use of the autobahn system requires the purchase of a vignette (toll sticker), which is required for both passenger cars and trucks. On routes which are more costly to maintain, mostly mountainous routes with tunnels, an additional toll is required which is collected at time of use via toll plazas. Vignettes are available in varying lengths of validity (10 days, 2 months or a year). A vignette valid for a year currently costs 72.60 EUR. Since 2004 trucks must carry a Go-Box, a little white box which counts the length of the autobahn used by way of electrical control points. The Go-Box is queried by overhead DSRC microwave radio transceivers at each exit. As only trucks need to carry a Go-Box, overhead 3-D infrared laser scanners are used to detect and photograph trucks travelling without the Go-Box.

[edit] Traffic laws and enforcement

Autobahns in Austria may only be used by powered vehicles that are designed to achieve a maximum speed exceeding 60 km/h (Switzerland: 80 km/h).

[edit] External information

Autobahnen und Schnellstraßenfinanzierungs AG company, which maintains the Autobahnen and Schnellstraßen in Austria (wholly owned by the Republic of Austria).