Via Egnatia : from the Ancient Road to the Modern Motorway.

In the Balkan Peninsula, the 2nd century BC was marked by the decline of the Macedonia Empire and the expansion of Roman power and authority. In 146 BC, Gaius Egnatius, Roman consul, envisioned a technical project of great importance, away from Italian peninsula, destined to establish communication bonds between the capital of the Roman Empire and the oriental provinces. The most glorious period of the Egnatia road was the one of ByzantineEmperor Justinian (527-564 AD). During this period, many guard posts wereconstructed separated along the road and renovation operations of major importance. The road was damaged and abandoned during the Middle Ages and the period of the Ottoman occupation of Illyria. In the period after World War II, land transport along the axis Adriatic Sea-Euxine Sea was of minorimportance. Most commercial vehicles heading to Minor Asia and Middle East would prefer the more convenient way through former Yugoslavia republic.Along the itinerary of the great route of the past, a dense national roadnetwork was built to serve for local rather than international transport purposes. In the 1990s, construction began on a modern Egnatia in Greece, also known as National Road 2 or Egnatia Odos. The 670 km Egnatia Odos is widely accepted as one of the largest and most ambitious civil engineeringprojects in Europe at the current time. For the covering abstract see ITRD E139491.