Editing Transport in Albania (section)

==History==

[[File:Via_Egnatia-en.jpg|thumb|250px|Via Egnatia connecting [[Dyrrachium]] with Byzantium]]

Since antiquity, the area of modern Albania served as a crossroad of important caravan routes such as the Roman [[Via Egnatia]] linking the Adriatic with [[Byzantium]] (later Constantinople). The Italian fascist regime of Mussolini carried out a project of road constructions in Albania in the 1930s, yet auto-mobility was limited at the time.<ref>Dalakoglou, D, 2017 The Road: An Ethnography of (im)mobility, Spaces and Cross-Border Infrastructures in the Balkans. Manchester University Press</ref>  The total length of Albania's roads more than doubled in the first three decades after [[World War II]], and by the 1980s almost all of the country's remote mountain areas were connected, either by dirt or paved roads, with the capital city of [[Tirana]], and ports on the [[Adriatic]] and [[Ionian Sea]].

After 1947, a significant infrastructure undertaking was the construction of the country's rail network as Albania was considered the only country in Europe not to have standard rail service.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080518061031/http://www.hsh.com.al/ Hekurudha Shqiptare]</ref> By 1987, 677&nbsp;km of railway were constructed in total linking the main urban and industrial centers for the first time since the end of [[World War II]]. Train transport was the main public transportation method until 1990. After the collapse of Communism, the network fell into disregard, operating with second-hand carriages in a constant precarious state.

[[File:Tirana,_Albania_(15694970004).jpg|thumb|[[Mercedes-Benz]] vehicles on the main boulevard in Tirana, Albania]]

Central government funding of local road maintenance effectively ended in 1991, and the breakdown of repair vehicles because of a lack of spare parts threatened to close access to some remote areas. A group of [[Greece|Greek]] construction companies signed a protocol with the Albanian government in July 1990 to build a 200 kilometer road across the southern part of the country, extending from the Albanian-Greek [[Border crossings of Albania|border]] to [[Durrës]]. The project was scheduled to last four years and cost US$500 million.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Albania - Road Transportation |url=http://countrystudies.us/albania/104.htm |access-date=2022-06-12 |website=countrystudies.us}}</ref> Despite the poor quality of Albania's roads, most of the country's freight was conveyed over them in a fleet of about 15,000 trucks. According to official figures, in 1987 Albania's roadways carried about 66 percent of the country's total freight tonnage.

Up until 1991, the total number of cars in Albania was between 5000 and 7000. In 1991, the Albanian government lifted the decades-old ban on private-vehicle ownership. As a result, car imports numbered about 1,500 per month. Traffic in the capital remained light, but traffic lights and other control devices were urgently needed to deal with the multiplying number of privately owned cars. Albanian entrepreneurs also imported used Greek buses and started carrying passengers on intercity routes that did not exist or had been poorly serviced during the communist era.

The population is known for owning a large fleet of German cars. In particular, [[Mercedes-Benz]] vehicles are widely preferred not only for their status symbol, but also for their durability on rural roads where half of the population resides, and the cheap price for buying used ones. Mercedes-Benz cars were owned by Enver Hoxha and reportedly favored by his officials, giving the brand a foothold even before private ownership of cars was legalized. By 2004 the number of cars in the capital Tirana had increased to over 300,000 and air pollution became a pressing concern.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.corp.at/archive/CORP2010_14.pdf | title=Albania in Transition: International Assistance for Roads but not Public Transport | first=Dorina | last=Pojani | date=May 2010 | access-date=2024-07-29 | website=www.corp.at}}</ref> These are mostly 1990s and early 2000s [[Diesel engine|diesel]] cars,<ref>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/sK6ZChjF-L8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140619182115/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK6ZChjF-L8 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK6ZChjF-L8| title = Stoku i makinave të përdorura - News, Lajme - Vizion Plus | website=[[YouTube]]}}{{cbignore}}</ref> while it is widely believed that the [[fuel]] used in Albania contains larger amounts of [[sulfur]] and [[lead]] than in the [[European Union]]. Albania is probably one of the few countries in [[Europe]] where vehicles imported from the [[United States]], and from [[Right- and left-hand traffic|left hand traffic]] jurisdictions (for example the [[United Kingdom]]) can be found on the streets without any modifications brought from expats living abroad.