Slovenia

Slovenia is a small alpine country in central Europe which was formerly part of Yugoslavia and was the first to break away in 1991. It lies at a major crossroads in Europe connecting Italy, the Germanic countries, central Europe and the Balkans.

Roads

Highway network

The Slovenian highway network plan is nearing completion, with all major motorway routes having been constructed. As of 2024, the network is made up of around 542km of motorways and 76km of expressways mainly built to D2M standards and only a short section of D3M exists on the southeastern corner of the Ljubljana motorway box. In many places where uphill gradients are significant, the hard shoulder becomes a climbing lane for slower vehicles. This is usually marked with longer dashed lines with a very short spacing while the main lanes maintain normal markings.

The unbuilt parts of the network mainly include some sections of expressways in Slovenian Istria in the south and the second bore of the Karavanke tunnel in northern Slovenia which has been under construction since 2018 and is currently the largest ongoing motorway project in Slovenia.

Slovenia's highways use a vignette system to toll the roads and since 2022 the vignette system was made electronic meaning it is possible to buy them online before you travel and windscreen stickers are no longer needed. Until around the time of this change there were some sections of motorway (particularly the A1) where traffic was slowed to pass through what seemed to be former toll booth plazas though these seem to have been repurposed to operating stations. Overhead cameras are used at several points to check vehicles have a valid vignette. Slovenia's highway system is operated and maintained by DARS from who the vignette can be purchased directly through their website. Despite local criticisms in central Europe due to the expense of vignettes, they are extremely better value for money than traditional tolling systems which charge a rate based on distance travelled as the vignette gives unlimited access to the entire highway system of that country for a fixed period of time.

Motorways

Motorways in Slovenia are built to a high standard and are incredibly scenic motorways with long tunnels and viaducts through mountainous terrain being very common features. They are signed with white on green signs and the national speed limit is 130 km/h unless signed otherwise and they are numbered with an "A" prefix. The speed limit tends to be lowered to 110 km/h when there is no hard shoulder present and 100 km/h through tunnels and more twisty sections through the mountains.

Motorway tunnels in Slovenia tend to be constructed to D2 with no hard shoulders, they are fully illuminated inside and LED cats eyes line the kerbs on both sides of the tunnel. Generally the cats eyes are red with every fifth one being blue. The start of motorway regulations are signed with a white on green chopsticks sign and a similar sign with a red strike through it to show when these regulations end.

List of Slovenian motorways

Number	Main Connections	Start	End	Length
A1	Austria - Maribor - Celje - Ljubljana - Postojna - Koper	A9 Austrian Border	Koper	245 km
A2	Austria - Jesenice - Kranj - Ljubljana - Novo Mesto - Croatia	A11 Austrian Border	A3 Croatian Border	171 km
A3	A1 - Italy	A1	Italian Border	12 km
A4	Maribor - Ptuj - Croatia	Maribor	A2	34km
A5	Maribor - Murska Sobota - Hungary	A1 Maribor	M70 Hungarian Border	80 km

Expressways

Expressways in Slovenia are signed with white on blue signs and are built to slightly lower standards than the motorways and they are numbered with a "H" prefix. They are still high quality dual carriageway routes and they tend to have grade-separated junctions although at-grade junctions are also not uncommon. The national speed limit on expressways is 110 km/h but many of them tend to be signed with lower limits.

List of Slovenian motorways

Number	Main Connections	Start	End	Length
H2	Maribor expressway	A1 Junction 2	Maribor centre	7 km
H3	Ljubljana ring road - north flank	A1 Junction 27	A2	10 km
H4	Razdrto - Nova Gorica - Italy	A1 Junction 43	A34	42 km
H5	Italy - Koper	Italian Border	H6 Koper	8 km
H6	Koper - Izola	Koper	Izola	5 km
H7	Dolga Vas Border Crossing	A5 Junction 11, Dolga Vas	Hungarian Border	4 km

Junction numbering

Highway junctions are numbered in a similar way to the United Kingdom. On north-south routes, junction 1 tends to be the northernmost junction with the numbers increasing southwards. On other routes which radiate from the A1, the junction numbers increase as they move away from it.

Speed limits

National speed limits

Road Type	Standards	Speed Limit (km/h)	Speed Limit (mph)
Motorway	D2, D2M	130	80
Expressway	D2	110	70
Rural single-carriageway roads	S2, S2+1,	90	55
Urban single-carriageway roads	S2, S4	50	30