A1 motorway (Slovenia)

The A1 motorway (avtocesta A1), also known as Slovenika, is 245.3 km long, connecting Šentilj (at the Austrian border) and Koper/Capodistria (on the shores of the Adriatic Sea). It connects several of the largest metropolitan areas of the country, including Maribor, Celje and Ljubljana, all the way to the Slovenian Littoral and port town of Koper.

Construction began in 1970 and the first section was finished in 1972, connecting Vrhnika and Postojna. Everyday operation of this initial stretch started on 29 December 1972.

The connection to Koper was finished on 23 November 2004. The second-to-last part, from Trojane to Blagovica, was opened on 12 August 2005. It was also the most expensive, having eight viaducts and two tunnels despite being only 11 km long. The final section, the eastern Maribor bypass, opened on 14 August 2009.

Route description
The A1 motorway provides connection of Slovenia and Austria (only other motorway with border crossing to Austria being A2 motorway) and was from the very start an important route, because it connected the three largest cities in Slovenia – Ljubljana, Maribor and Celje. On the other hand, it also connected all those cities with Slovenian coast and provided better conditions for transit to Port of Koper. As of 2013 it is also the only motorway that is connected to all the other motorways in Slovenia.

As of 2013 motorway always has at least two traffic lanes in each direction and is rarely without emergency lane. On some parts it has three traffic lanes in one direction and two in another (usually the additional is for slow vehicles). Only Tunnel Golovec has three lanes in each direction. It was also planned that some other parts of highway will get additional lanes but most of plans were postponed due to lack of money.

Toll
Until 1 July 2008 all vehicles had to stop at tollgates and pay a toll. Since that date vignettes are required for all vehicles up to 3.5 tons, while heavier vehicles must still pay the toll at a tollgate. Tollgates are being rearranged so that two traffic lanes for lighter vehicles (with vignettes) are no longer divided by tollgates and vehicles can drive through at 60 kilometres per hour (37 miles per hour). Where tollgates are still standing as they were before 1 July 2008, the speed limit is 40 kilometres per hour (25 miles per hour). Since 2018, heavy vehicles need to pay toll with an electronic on-board unit attached on the windscreen and tollgates are not needed anymore.

There are six toll stations for heavier vehicles Pesnica, Tepanje, Vransko, Kompolje, Log and Videž. For R3 group it ranges from €3.40 to €19.60, together €47.10 at daytime (6 AM-10 PM) and from €3.00 to €17.60, together €42.30 at night (10 PM-6 AM). For R4 group it ranges from €4.90 to €28.30, together €68.20 at daytime (6 AM-10 PM) and from €4.40 to €25.50, together €61.40 at night (10 PM-6 AM).

Notable structures
When most parts of motorway were already done, there came two parts that were something special, meaning tunnels near Trojane with most notable being Tunnel Trojane with length of almost 3 kilometres and thus second longest tunnel in Slovenia (the longest being Karavanke Tunnel) and viaduct Črni Kal, the longest viaduct in Slovenia, being longer than 1 kilometer and also 95 metres high.

Tunnels
The motorway includes ten tunnels, two galleries and one covered cut:
 * Gallery Dragučova right and left 160 m
 * Vodole right 249 m, Vodole left 247 m
 * Covered cut Malečnik right and left 185 m
 * Golo rebro right 788 m, Golo rebro left 757 m
 * Pletovarje right 708 m, Pletovarje left 745 m
 * Ločica right 750 m, Ločica left 810 m
 * Jasovnik right 1633 m, Jasovnik left 1612 m
 * Trojane right 2840 m, Trojane left 2931 m
 * Podmilj right 622 m, Podmilj left 613 m
 * Gallery Strmec right and left 200 m
 * Golovec right 622 m, Golovec left 595 m
 * Kastelec right 2195 m, Kastelec left 2303 m
 * Dekani right 2190 m, Dekani left2181 m

Bridges
Motorway A1 has 101 viaducts, 109 bridges, 129 overpass in 117 underpass.

Some of the largest viaduct in the A1 (span greater than 500 mm):
 * Kresnica right 587 m and left 587 m
 * Pekel right 448 m and left 448 m
 * Preloge right558 m and left 558 m
 * Škedenj I. right 466 m and left 563 m
 * Ločica right 849 m and left 869 m
 * Šentožbolt right 410 m and left 541 m
 * Petelinjek right 622 m and left 634 m
 * Blagovica right 446 m and left 426 m
 * Verd right 620 m and left 586 m
 * Ravbarkomanda right 591 m and left 533 m
 * Črni kal right 1046 m and left 1048 m
 * Bivje right 575 m and left 563 m

The Črni Kal Viaduct is the longest viaduct in Slovenia.