Highways in Croatia are the main transport network in Croatia. The Croatian classification includes several classes of highways:
Other than these, the national road classification includes the following categories which may also be referred to as highways in a general sense, with decreasing order of priority (and applicability of the term highway):
Road operators differ according to the classification system: The designated motorways are operated by four different concessionaires. The state roads are maintained almost exclusively by Hrvatske ceste, while the county and local roads are managed by various county authorities. The road maintenance agencies are governed by various laws issued by the Parliament as well as bylaws issued by the Ministry of Transport.
The primary high-speed motorways are called autoceste (Croatian pronunciation: [ˈaʊtotsesta]; singular: autocesta), and they are defined as roads with at least three lanes in each direction (including hard shoulder) and a speed limit of not less than 80 kilometres per hour (50 mph). They are marked with a special road sign, similar to the road sign depicting a motorway/autoroute/autobahn in other parts of Europe. In Croatia this sign has green background. The national speed limit on an autocesta, effective in case no other speed limits are present, is 130 kilometres per hour (81 mph), with a legal tolerance of 10% on speeds over 100 km/h (as of 2009). The Croatian motorway (autocesta) network is 1,313.8 kilometres (816.4 mi) long.
Motorways in Croatia are defined by the Ministry of Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. The same applies to names of the motorway interchanges and rest areas. Likewise, the same legislation defines the origin of motorway chainages - at the northern or the western terminus of the motorway - and the motorway markings themselves. The markings are defined as consisting of letter "A" and the motorway number assigned by the legislation, except if a specific motorway is executed in construction stages and considered an expressway, in which case the applicable motorway number is preceded by letter "B" instead.