Historical photos of motorways and roads in your country

[BND]

Originally Posted by RS.ban

I meant on the last photo

I can spot a Polski Fiat 125p, a 126p, a Barkas, and maybe a Moskvich 408, but I am not sure about that

[RS.ban]

Belgrade

image hosted on flickr


image hosted on flickr

[Mateusz]

Does 'Zeleznicka stanica' means railway station ?

[snupix]

Originally Posted by Mateusz

Does 'Zeleznicka stanica' means railway station ?

Yes.

[Timon91]

Funny yellow and white '80' sign

[PLH]

Great new source for old pics: http://images.google.com/hosted/life



Us army tanks somewhere on the Autobahn:



It's probably the first motorway in history:

[Timon91]

Where exactly is that?

[PLH]

It's the Turin - Milan autostrada, the very first one.

[Timon91]

Ok, I thought it was in Poland, because "Autostrada" is also used in Polish

[Mateusz]

Well, we had some visions about motorways before WWII, the proper polish name for it is 'droga samochodowa'' it is just same meaning as autostrada or motorway

[Verso]

Originally Posted by PLH

It's probably the first motorway in history:

I don't see any motorway here.

[brisavoine]

The very famous Nationale 7, or N7, which is the road going from Paris to Lyon, then Marseille, then the French Riviera and finally the Italian border after Monaco. Originally, during Napoleon's Empire, it was the road from Paris to Rome, both cities being the end of the road.

Nationale 7 was dubbed the "route des vacances" in French (i.e. the "holidays road") because it was the road used by people going to the Mediterranean when mass migration during summer holidays started after WW2. The N7 was immortalized by Charles Trénet in 1955 in a famous song that is still one of my favorite French songs.

In the 1960s they started to build the Autoroute du Soleil (the "Sunshine Motorway") from Paris to Lyon and the Mediterranean, and so most people stopped using the N7 for long travel, and today the Autoroute du Soleil is one of the busiest motorways in Europe in summer, while the N7 is relatively quiet (but trafic on the N7 in summer in the 1950s was bumper to bumper... how times have changed!).

Here is the song by Charles Trénet, with some views of the N7:


In the 1950s, there was no Périphérique beltway around Central Paris. You left Central Paris at the Porte d'Italie ("Italy Gate") and the N7 started there. You crossed about 30 km of suburbs on the N7, but it looked like a suburban boulevard for 30 km, with trafic lights... and trafic jams.

In the southern suburbs, the N7 crossed Orly Airport underneath the airport. At the time it was the newest and largest airport of Paris, French authorities were very proud of that "modern" airport, and CDG didn't exist yet.



30 km south of Porte d'Italie you reached Corbeil-Essonnes where the suburbs finally ended and the open countryside started.



N7 in Corbeil-Essonnes:


80 km south of Paris you reached the big roundabout by the obelisk in the middle of the Fontainebleau Forest. The obelisk was erected in 1783 in the honor of Marie-Antoinette. There, several roads branch out towards southern France. You had to carefully choose the correct road towards Lyon otherwise if you took the wrong road you ended up in the Massif Central wildlands!



In Nemours you were almost at the end of Île-de-France and the border of Burgundy was near. You crossed the Loing River on a bridge (picture below) inaugurated by Pope Pius VII in 1804 on his way to the coronation of Napoleon I in Paris.



South of Montargis you could stop for lunch or dinner at the Auberge de la Route Bleue (i.e. the "Blue Road Inn", the "Blue Road" was another nickname for the N7, in reference to the blue Medditeranean). The Auberge de la Route Bleue had several stars in the Michelin Guide.



The N7 crossed through the center of Cosnes-sur-Loire, Burgundy (in fact the N7, like all roads prior to the motorway era, always went through the center of cities, without beltway or circling roads).



South of Cosnes-sur-Loire, you could stop at "Les 200 Bornes" (literally "The 200 kilometers" in French slang, maybe because it was 200 km south of Paris) to have some food and fill in the tank of your car.



In Nevers the N7 originally went right through this arch called the Porte de Paris ("Paris Gate"). In the 1950s they deviated the road away from the arch.



The crossing of the Loire in Nevers was spectacular, on a bridge built in the 18th century.



A gas station in the 1930s on the side of the N7 in Villeneuve-sur-Allier:


The N7 through the center of Moulins:


Already 301 km since we left Paris:


The N7 crossing a small town south of Moulins in the 1950s, with the Bar de la Route Bleue on the side of the road:


In Lapalisse the N7 went right below the majestic castle of the counts of Chavannes:


In Roanne you had to cross the Loire again. Lyon was now less than 100 km away.


After Roanne you had to climb the Monts du Lyonnais ("Lyonnais Mounts") before reaching Lyon. The steep climb started at the village of L'Hôpital-sur-Rhins.



N7 in the Monts du Lyonnais:


Finally, the first suburb of Lyon, Tassin (with its clock tower).



You crossed the Croix-Rousse tunnel inaugurated in 1955, and beyond the tunnel lay Central Lyon.



Tomorrow, I'll show you the rest of the Nationale 7 from Lyon to the Mediterranean. Stay tuned!

[RS.ban]

great job!
very interesting report

[castermaild55]

in 1937, Nissan CM



Tokyo expressway in 1964

[PLH]

Originally Posted by Verso

I don't see any motorway here.

Cause it was just that - a single carriageway.

[Timon91]

Very interesting report about the N7

[Palance]

Some photos from my own archive. Almost all photos are from the late 70's

Somewhere in Germany.



The Zeelandbrug in the Netherlands.


Again, end of the 70's, somewhere Somewhere


Austria: Building the Tauernautobahn



Austria, A10, Raststätte Golling (near Salzburg)



Austria, Felbertaurntunnel


Croatia (Yugoslavia): Ucka tunnel (1981, shortly after the opening)


Ljubljana

[ChrisZwolle]

Very nice pictures

http://img377.imageshack.us/img377/6076/1167035qu.jpg

It's in the Netherlands, in a wooded area with sand grounds. You don't find that too often. I think I can rule out the A1 Barneveld - Apeldoorn, A1 near Rijssen, A50 Zwolle - Apeldoorn and A28 Zwolle - Harderwijk because they don't look like that. I can't remember that small stream next to it anywhere, and those corridors are narrower with the trees closer to the motorway. It might be the A12 Utrecht - Arnhem or A28 near Utrecht. Perhaps A67 Eindhoven - Belgium

[Timon91]

Nice pics, Palance! It's always interesting to see historical photos of motorways from your own country

[brisavoine]

EDIT