The Autoroute A40 is a motorway in France that extends from Mâcon on the west to Passy on the east, terminating not far from Chamonix and the Mont Blanc Tunnel. The road runs 208 km through Bresse, the high southern Jura Mountains, northern Prealps and French Alps. It was fully completed in 1990, and includes 12 viaducts and 3 tunnels. The road is maintained by Autoroutes Paris-Rhin-Rhône (APRR and ATMB), comprising part of European routes E25 and E62.

Nomenclature

Autoroute A40 is named Autoroute des Titans ("Highway of the Titans") for the dramatic engineering construction through the mountainous sections between Bourg-en-Bresse and Bellegarde-sur-Valserine, and as Autoroute Blanche ("the White Motorway") through the snow-laden Jura and Alps between Bellegarde-sur-Valserine and Annemasse on the Swiss border.

History

ATMB

These sections were previously numbered B41.

APRR

The western section between the A6 and A42 was originally given the number F42. The whole road was re-numbered the A40 including a short section where the road merges with the A42.

Characteristics

The autoroute is made up of two lanes for each traffic direction except between its junctions with the A42 and A39 (21 km) where there are three lanes on each side.

Junctions