National Road 1 (Albania)

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National Road SH1
Rruga shtetërore SH1
Route information
Part of Blue Corridor, ,
Length 125 km (78 mi)
Location
Counties Shkodër, Lezhë, Durrës, Tirana
Highway system
Highways in Albania

The Albanian State Road 1 (SH1), (Albanian: Rruga Shtetërore 1) is the main road connection between the Albanian capital Tirana and Montenegrin capital Podgorica. It forms the part of the Albanian North-South Corridor connecting Hani i Hotit in the Albanian-Montenegrin border with Kakavijë in the Albanian-Greek border thus forming part of the Adriatic-Ionian motorway.

It is part of Route 2 of the European Core Road Network while some road atlases mark SH1 as part of European route E762.[1][2] It is also part of the European route E851. In recent years, the road has been undergoing major reconstruction works in several parts.

Route

Tha National Road SH1 leads to the Albanian-Montenegrin border at Hani i Hotit border crossing. From Tirana at the Kamza Bypass (Albanian: Mbikalimi i Kamzës) northward, it passes through Fushë-Krujë, Milot, Lezhë, Shkodër, and Koplik. Between Thumane and Milot, the SH1 became part of A1 Motorway.

Background

The road segment between Han i Hotit and Shkodër (about 32.5 km (20.2 mi)) was completed in 2013 as a single carriageway standard (Albanian: superstradë). The Shkodër Bypass started after the 2010 floods. It was planned to incorporate a defensive dam against Lake Shkodër, but works were abandoned a few years later only to restart in 2017. The road continues as a single carriageway down to Milot and contains some uncontrolled and dangerous entry and exit points.

It is planned that sections between Milot and Lezhë will be widened to dual carriageway standard in the near future.

When it was designed in early 2000s, the entire road between Tirana and Shkodër was intended to be a dual carriageway. However, the lack of funding at the time only allowed for one carriageway to be constructed, thus the lack of shoulders. The section between Milot and Fushë-Krujë was unofficially named as the "Road of Death" by many media reports for its structural deficiencies. As of 2009, the 25 kilometres (16 mi) dangerous long section is being upgraded to motorway standard and has become part of the A1 motorway connecting the capital Tirana with Kosovo.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "South-East Europe Transport Observatory SEETO" (PDF).
  2. ↑ "WESTERN BALKAN 6 PRIME MINISTERS CORE NETWORK AND PRIORITY PROJECTS" (PDF). 21 April 2015.

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