Country: | FRA |
Type: | A |
Route: | 8 |
Maint: | ASF |
Length Km: | 224 |
Established: | 1961 |
Direction A: | West |
Direction B: | East |
Terminus A: | at Marseille |
Terminus B: | Italian border; road continues as the Italian A10 |
Junction: |
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The A8 autoroute, also known as La Provençale, is a 224adj=onNaNadj=on-long highway in France that runs between Aix-en-Provence and the A7 to the Côte d'Azur.
The A8 is an extension of the A7 starting to the west of Aix-en-Provence at La Fare-les-Oliviers. The road passes through the Departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Var and Alpes-Maritimes. It serves the towns of Aix-en-Provence, Fréjus, Saint-Raphaël, Mandelieu-la-Napoule, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monaco and Menton before crossing the border where it becomes the A10 in Italy. It crosses the mountain ranges of Sainte-Baume and of Maures between Aix-en-Provence and Fréjus and the Massif de l'Esterel between Saint-Raphaël and Cannes. Following the Grande Corniche the road offers panoramas of the sea between Nice and Menton.
Whilst the route now starts to the west of Aix-en-Provence, according to the 3rd edition (1973) of the Michelin Atlas des autoroutes de France, the A8 used to start just west of Coudoux. Indeed the toll fees were listed as being 2FF from Coudoux to Aix-en-Provence in 1973.
The road has heavy traffic all year round and is especially congested in July and August (in particular around Antibes and Nice. As a result, traffic-management schemes have been adopted between Var to Nice-West similar to those on the Péripherique in Paris. The autoroute is regularly closed on the Nice-Menton section as a result of rock falls onto the carriageways. The sections crossing the Maures and L'Esterel mountains are at risk from forest fires in summer.