Grande Raccordo Anulare
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| Autostrada A90 | |
| Grande Raccordo Anulare | |
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| Length: | 68.2 km (42.4 mi) |
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| Autostrade of Italy | |
The GRA or Grande Raccordo Anulare (literally, "Great Ring Junction" and not so literally as the "Great Ring Road") is a toll-free, ring-shaped orbital motorway, 68.2 kilometres (42.4 mi), in circumference that encircles Rome. Its acronym was given after one of its main designers and supporters, Eugenio Gra, chairman of ANAS, the Italian roads Authority, at the time of construction.
The official number among the Italian motorways is A90, but that ia barely known and not found anywhere on road signs. It is widely known by Romans as Il Raccordo ("The Junction"). The road was the subject of the 2013 documentary film Sacro GRA which won the Golden Lion at the 70th Venice International Film Festival.
1948: Building works began.
1951: The Appia-Aurelia section is opened.
1952: The Flaminia-Tiburtina section is opened.
1955: The Tiburtina-Appia section is opened.
1960: The road was part of the marathon course of the 1960 Summer Olympics.
1962: The lane number is doubled in Salaria-Tuscolana section
1970: The Aurelia-Flaminia section is opened, the ring is completed.
1979: GRA is now officially a highway.
1983: Works to a 6-lane set begin.
1997: 50% of the GRA track is on a 6-lane (2x3) set
2000: 75% of the GRA track is on a 6-lane set
2007: 97% of the GRA track is on a 6-lane set
2011: End of works to the 6-lane set
Plans for an orbital road around Rome were proposed by the end of the World War II. One of the designers' main purposes was to build the road as most equally distant as possible from the geographic centre of town, the Campidoglio, 11.4 kilometres (7.1 mi) away from the motorway.
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