State highways (Italy)
Strada Statale [ˈstraːda staˈtaːle]), abbreviated SS, are the Italian national network of state highways.
From 1928 until 1946, state highways were maintained by the Azienda Autonoma Statale della Strada (AASS).
Following the works to extend the road network, the first revision of the list took place in 1884 with Royal Decree no.
The extension of the road network was necessary in 1911 to update the list drawn up almost 30 years earlier, formalized with Royal Decree no.
The advent of the automobile, which required the availability of fast and well-paved roads, changed the situation, and in the immediate post-war period it was decided to revisit the issue.
The growing centralization of power of the fascist regime however led to the definitive affirmation of the centralist management model,[2] which culminated in 1928 with the foundation of the Azienda Autonoma Statale della Strada (AASS) (law 17 May 1928, n. 1094, Official Gazette n. 127 of 05/31/1928); it then became ANAS in 1946.
With the establishment of the AASS, for the first time there was a body that dealt exclusively with the state's highways; at the same time, 137 state highways were established, mostly taking up and renumbering the 118 roads of the previous decree, from SS 1 (Via Aurelia) to SS 137 (in the province of Zara, Dalmatia, in present-day Croatia).
Starting from the mid-1960s, ANAS also began to build a network of dual carriageways which often flanked or completed the routes of the state highways, but did not formally replace them.
From a classification point of view, this has led to an extreme and confusing variety of new acronyms and street numbers, carried out independently by each local authority without a common criterion; consequently, in common usage the roads have often continued to be identified as "former state highway number...".
State highways that cross towns with a population of at least 10,000 inhabitants are urban roads (type D and E) under the jurisdiction of the relevant comuni.
The state highway that cross towns or villages with a population of less than 10,000 inhabitants are urban roads (type D and E) under the jurisdiction of the comune, subject to authorization from ANAS.
Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only.
[13] Type B highway is a dual carriageway with at least two lanes for each direction, paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections.
The Italian state highway network has approximately 25,000 km (16,000 mi) of roads identified with the acronym SS.
Due to urbanization processes, it has abandoned some sections of state highways, following the their acquisition by the interested comuni, who now take care of their maintenance.
In Trentino-Alto Adige, the management of state highways has been delegated to the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano since 1998 in application of the changes made by the legislative decree of 2 September 1997, n.
