Station Péage

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19 October 2021  |  Transport

The first French motorway

The A13 wass the first French motorway. It all started in 1927 with the launch of studies aimed at creating the “highway to the west”. The idea was to link the capital to Normandy, at a time when commercial aviation was in its infancy and when Cherbourg (Manche) and Le Havre (Seine-Maritime) constituted a stopover on the route of transatlantic liners. The first section was completed in 1941. The free motorway network was extended until it became chargeable on July 9, 1960.

On July 1, 1961, the first toll motorway was inaugurated in France, it is the Estérel-Côte d'Azur motorway.

Autoroute

 © Autoroute 

It connected Puget-sur-Argens, in the Var to Mandelieu, in the Alpes-Maritimes. It was 63 kilometers long and to take it you had to pay 250 old francs or 3.99 euros.

Péage

 © Péage 

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Author

Hugh Atkins

Co-founder of Pure France. 20 years of visiting and photographing fabulous properties, meeting fascinating people and driving every main and back road in France.

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