Strada statale 4 Via Salaria

State Highway 4
State Highway 4
Strada statale 4
Salaria
Route information
	Maintained by ANAS
Length	208.2 km (129.4 mi) reduced to 175 km since the Ascoli-Porto d'Ascoli trait was declassed to provincial road
Existed	1928–present
Major junctions
From	City centre of Rome
	Tangenziale Est and GRA in Rome; Autostrada A1 at Settebagni; SS 313 in Passo Corese; SS 636 di Palombara at Borgo Quinzio; SS 79 Ternana and SS 578 Salto Cicolana in Rieti; SS 17 in Antrodoco; SS 471 di Leonessa at Posta; SS 260 Picente at Amatrice; SS 685 delle Tre Valli Umbre at Arquata del Tronto; Raccordo autostradale 11 and SS 81 Piceno Aprutina at Ascoli Piceno
To	SS 16 Adriatica at Porto d'Ascoli
Location
Country	Italy
Regions	Lazio, Marche
Highway system
	Roads in Italy ; Autostrade ; State ; Regional ; Provincial ; Municipal ;

Last updated June 16, 2024

Strada statale 4 Via Salaria is an Italian state highway, linking Rome to the Adriatic Sea passing through Rieti and Ascoli Piceno. Its route retraces that of the ancient Via Salaria Roman road. It is a single carriageway highway for most of its route.

Route

Rome to Rieti

Strada statale 4 Via Salaria starts Northeast of Rome, just outside the Aurelian Walls, where until 1921 Porta Salaria was located to control access to the city. The initial stretch of SS 4 is more similar to an urban road than to a highway, as the area has now become densely populated and buildings have been raised by the roadside. After four kilometres SS4 meets Tangenziale Est di Roma and, from that point on, becomes a busy dual carriageway urban road, filled by people leaving or entering the city.

In the Castel Giubileo neighborhood, SS4 exits the city of Rome and meets Grande Raccordo Anulare (GRA), where most of the traffic flows. Immediately after, the road returns a single carriageway highway; in fact the subsequent 20 kilometer stretch, from the GRA to Passo Corese, has seen his importance reduced since the 6-lane Autostrada A1 runs parallel to it and absorbs most of the long-distance traffic. Nevertheless, SS4 remains important to many mid-sized towns in Rome's hinterland, such as Settebagni, Monterotondo and Mentana.

Passo Corese marks both the point where SS4 enters the Province of Rieti and the point where it diverges from Autostrada A1, receiving from it all traffic to the Adriatic. The road here leaves the Tiber valley and ventures into the more hilly Sabina region, commencing its long, gradual ascent to the Apennines. For this reason, SS4 had once a rather rough course from here on, with tight bends and continuous rises and descents; current SS4 is a completely new road (constructed in the 1960s to replace the old one from Passo Corese to Rieti), much more straight and wide, albeit still with a single carriageway.

As the road passes the Sabine mountains, it reaches an altitude of 400 metres above sea level at Osteria Nuova and it descents into a narrow valley, then rises again until reaching 570 metres in the village of Ornaro, and finally descents.

6 km (3.7 mi) south of province capital Rieti the road becomes a dual carriageway road; the long "Colle Giardino" road tunnel allows the road to leave Sabine mountains behind and to enter the Rieti plain (400 metres on sea level) where the city is settled.

Rieti to the Adriatic

In Rieti SS4 turns sharply into East, quickly leaves the Rieti plain and prosecutes in the Velino valley. Shortly before Cittaducale, the road returns a single carriageway and pretty narrow road, which still needs to be uprated and follows a similar path to the ancient Roman road. While slightly ascending, SS4 reaches the spa town of Cotilia and then Antrodoco, where it joins State Highway 17 to L'Aquila.

In Antrodoco (470 metres on sea level) the road follows the river's valley, bending to the north and entering the narrow "Gole del Velino" canyon. Here SS4 becomes similar to a mountain road, since bends become more tight and the ascent more steep; but halfway through the canyon, a recently uprated stretch of the road begins, where tunnels and viaducts make the road smoother albeit still with a single carriageway.

In Posta, at 700 metres above sea level, SS4 leaves the canyon and keeps going up in a broader plateau. Shortly after Cittareale the highway reaches its upper point, the Torrita Pass, at around 1010 metres on the sea level.

From here on the roads descents following the course of the narrow Tronto valley. Soon after Amatrice and Accumoli, the road leaves Lazio and enters the region of Marche. Passing through Arquata del Tronto (780 metres on sea level) and Acquasanta Terme (390 metres), SS4 keeps descending until it reaches province capital Ascoli Piceno (150 metres on sea level).

After Ascoli the road continues towards the Adriatic Sea with a rather winding path, where it ends in a junction with SS 16 Adriatica and the Autostrada A14 in Porto d'Ascoli (near San Benedetto del Tronto). Still, such trait has been recently declassed to provincial road, since it has been replaced by Raccordo autostradale 11, a more modern dual carriageway road.

Future interventions

Today SS4 is a busy road between Rieti and Passo Corese, as it is the main road link between Rieti and Rome; motorists use it to reach the Autostrada A1 in Passo Corese and continue towards Rome in the more modern road. In this trait SS4 has a single, albeit reasonably wide carriageway, which was constructed in the 1960s in place of an earlier, less smooth road.^[1] For this reason, Italian Government plans to make SS4 a dual carriageway road between Rieti and Passo Corese, but around 1.5 billion euros are needed^[2] and it is not known when funds will be granted.

Uprating of the trait from Cittaducale to Posta, where the carriageway is rather narrow and the road climbs up the Apennine mountains, is also planned to make the carriageway wider and less winding - even if the road will remain with a single carriageway. The first part of these road works started in 2005 on the Posta-Micigliano stretch^[3] and are currently underway.

Related Research Articles

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References

↑ "Relazione di sintesi". Ministero dell'Ambiente. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
↑ Camera dei deputati - Sistema Informativo Legge Opere Strategiche
↑ "Via all'appalto del primo lotto della Salaria". Il Tempo, Rieti edition. 12 May 2005. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

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[1] "Relazione di sintesi". Ministero dell'Ambiente. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2016.

[2] Camera dei deputati - Sistema Informativo Legge Opere Strategiche

[3] "Via all'appalto del primo lotto della Salaria". Il Tempo, Rieti edition. 12 May 2005. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.

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v t e State highways in Italy
Roads in Italy
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Former	1 ter 2 bis 2 dir 3 bis racc 3 ter 4 bis 5 bis 5 bis dir 5 ter 5 quater dir 5 dir 5 dir/A 5 racc 7 dir/A 7 dir/B 7 bis dir 7 quater dir 7 var/A 8 8 bis 9 bis 9 ter 9 racc 13 racc 14 bis 15 15 dir 15 racc 16 dir/A 16 bis 16 ter 17 bis 17 bis dir/A 17 bis dir/B 17 bis dir/C 17 ter 17 racc 18 dir 18 dir/A 18 dir/B 18 racc 18 racc bis 18 racc ter 19 bis 19 ter 19 dir 22 23 28 bis 28 dir 29 racc 31 31 bis 32 dir 33 racc 35 bis 35 dir 36 dir 45 bis dir 46 dir 47 racc 50 racc 50 bis 51 racc 52 racc 53 54 radd 54 racc/A 54 racc/B 55 racc 57 57 bis 58 bis 58 ter 58 dir/A 58 dir/B 59 60 61 66 68 69 70 71 bis 74 75 bis 75 bis racc 78 79 bis 80 dir 81 dir 86 88 88 bis 89 dir/A 91 bis 91 ter 92 dir 97 98 102 103 104 105 105 dir 106 bis 106 ter 106 racc 107 bis 107 dir 107 racc 108 108 ter 109 ter 109 racc 110 110 dir 111 111 dir 112 112 bis 112 dir 135^I 135^II 136^I 136^II 137^I 137^II 138 139 140 140 dir 141 141 dir 142 143 144 145 dir 146 147 147 dir 149 150 151 152 154 155 155 racc 156 156 dir 157 158 dir 159 160 161 162 162 dir 162 racc 164 165 167 168 168 racc 169 dir 170 170 dir/B 171 172 radd 173 174 175 176 178 180 181 183 184 188 dir/B 201 202 racc 203 203 dir 204 206 207 208 208 dir 209 210 211 213 214 215 216 217 218 220 221 222 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 232 234 235 236 236 bis 245 246 247 248 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 259 261 262 262 dir 263 264 265 266 267 269 270 270 racc 271 273 276 dir 277 278 279 279 dir 280 racc 281 282 296 297 297 bis 298 299 302 304 305 306 307 307 var 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 319 320 320 dir 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 331 332 333 334 338 339 342 dir 345 348 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 370 dir 371 373 374 374 dir 375 376 377 378 380 381 382 383 384 393 394 dir 395 396 397 399 400 dir 403 404 405 406 408 409 411 411 dir 412 413 414 415 416 418 419 420 422 422 dir 423 424 426 428 429 430 431 432 433 435 436 437 437 dir 438 440 441 443 444 445 446 446 dir 447 447 dir 447 racc 447 racc/A 449 450^I 450^II 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 467 468 470 dir 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 dir 491 492 493 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 509 510 511 512 513 515 517 518 519 520 521 522 524 525 527 528 529 530 532 533 535 536 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 bis 555 556 558 559 562 562 dir 563 564 565 566 566 dir 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 574 dir 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 racc 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 596 dir 599 600 600 dir 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 614 615 615 dir 617 618 619 623 625 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 637 dir 638 639 642 646 648 649 649 dir 651 654 656 656 dir 657 661 662 663 664 665 665 dir 666 667 668 669 670 671 678
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