Editing Calabria (section)

==Infrastructure and transport==

===Motorways and rail===

The region is served by three heavily used roads: two national highways along the coasts (the SS18 between [[Naples]] and Reggio Calabria and the SS106 between Reggio Calabria and [[Taranto]]) and the [[Autostrada A2 (Italy)|A2 motorway]],<ref>{{in lang|it}} ''...una vera e propria «vergogna italiana»'', in [http://www.almcalabria.it/calabriaradicale/a3/la-storia-della-salerno-reggio-calabria/ La storia della Salerno Reggio Calabria] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110722023438/http://www.almcalabria.it/calabriaradicale/a3/la-storia-della-salerno-reggio-calabria/ |date=22 July 2011 }}, book about Salerno-Reggio Calabria</ref> which links [[Salerno]] to Reggio Calabria, passing by [[Cosenza]] along the old inland route. [[Autostrada A3 (Italy)#Overview)|Building this motorway]] took 55 years and was extremely over budget due to organized crime infiltration.<ref>''Organised crime may be behind problems with southern motorway: Awkward questions remain about Italian infrastructure'', in [http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/organised-crime-may-be-behind-problems-with-southern-motorway-1.1478824] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054517/http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/organised-crime-may-be-behind-problems-with-southern-motorway-1.1478824|date=4 March 2016}}</ref>

The main road infrastructures can be classified into two separate groups, the first including the road infrastructures that cross the whole of Calabria from north to south:
{|class="wikitable"
!Number
!Name e<br />length
!Start
!End
!Toll
!Services
|-
|[[File:Autostrada A2 del Mediterraneo - Italia.svg|alt=Simbolo dell'Autostrada A2 del Mediterraneo|50x50px|A2]]|| [[Autostrada A2 (Italy)|Autostrada A2 del Mediterraneo]]<br />(278+400 km su 432+600 km) || Start from [[Autostrada A30 (Italy)|A30]] near [[Fisciano]]|| [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|-
|[[File:Strada Statale 106 Italia.svg|50px|SS 206]] || [[Strada statale 106 Jonica]]<br />(415,000 km su 491+000km) ||[[Taranto]] ||  [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|-
|[[File:Strada Statale 18 Italia.svg|50px|SS 18]] || [[Strada statale 18 Tirrena Inferiore]]<br />(535,132 km) || [[Napoli]] || [[Reggio Calabria]] || Free || [[File:Zeichen 361-51.svg|20px]]  Yes
|}

The second group includes the roads, which run through the region from the Tyrrhenian coast to the Ionian coast (west-east) .

There is high-speed rail on Calabria's Tyrrhenian Coast with the [[Frecciargento]] (Silver Arrow) offering a route from Rome to Reggio Calabria. There are also many ferries connecting Calabria with Sicily through the [[Strait of Sicily]] with the main one being from [[Villa San Giovanni]] to Messina.

===Shipping and ports===
[[File:Gioiatauro seaport.jpg|thumb|The seaport of [[Gioia Tauro]]]]
The main Calabrian ports are in [[Gioia Tauro]] and in [[Reggio Calabria]]. 

The [[port of Gioia Tauro]] has seven loading docks with an extension of {{cvt|4646|m|ft|abbr=off}}; it is the largest in Italy and the eighth largest [[container port]] in Europe, with a 2018 throughput of {{TEU|4.0 million}}s<ref>{{cite web |url=https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/submitViewTableAction.do |title=The largest European ports |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=21 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230121154457/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/main/eurostat/web/main/help/faq/data-services |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Top_20_ports_handling_containers,_2008-2018_(thousand_TEUs).png |title=Top_20_ports_handling_containers |access-date=14 May 2021 |archive-date=5 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210505171325/https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=File:Top_20_ports_handling_containers,_2008-2018_(thousand_TEUs).png |url-status=live }}</ref> from more than 3,000 ships. In a 2006 report, Italian investigators estimated that 80% of Europe's [[cocaine]] arrived from [[Colombia]] via Gioia Tauro's docks. The port is also involved in the [[illegal arms trafficking]]. These activities are controlled by the '''Ndrangheta'' criminal syndicate.<ref name=gua191206>[https://www.theguardian.com/international/story/0,,1974925,00.html Bitter harvest] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190911230212/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/19/italy.ethicalliving |date=11 September 2019 }}, [[The Guardian]], 19 December 2006</ref>

The [[port of Reggio]] is equipped with five loading docks of a length of {{cvt|1530|m|ft|abbr=off}}.

Other ports:
*Port of Vibo Valentia
*Port of Villa San Giovanni
*Port of Corigliano Calabro
*Port of Crotone

===Air travel===
*[[Lamezia Terme International Airport]],currently the first airport in Calabria for number of passengers per year.
*[[Reggio Calabria Airport]],few kilometres from Reggio Calabria's city center, built in 1939 was Calabria's first airport.
*[[Crotone Airport]]

===Bridges===
Calabria has the two highest bridges in Italy:
*[[Italia Viaduct]]
*[[Sfalassa Viaduct]] (also the highest and longest span frame bridge in the world)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sfalassa_Bridge |title=Sfalassa Bridge |publisher=HighestBridges.com |date=28 March 2010 |access-date=26 March 2013 |archive-date=22 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322001145/http://highestbridges.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sfalassa_Bridge |url-status=live }}</ref>

===Planned bridge===

[[File:Strait of Messina - NASA.jpg|upright|thumb|left|picture of stretto di Messina.]] 
<!--Please leave the title as "Planned bridge, not "The bridge" otherwise people skimming this article will assume the bridge exists (as I did!)
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{{Main|Strait of Messina Bridge}}
Plans for a bridge linking Sicily to Calabria have been discussed since 1865. Throughout the last decade, plans were developed for a road and rail link to the mainland via what would be the world's longest [[suspension bridge]], the [[Strait of Messina Bridge]]. Planning for the project has experienced several false starts over the past few decades. On 6 March 2009, [[Silvio Berlusconi]]'s government declared that the construction works for the Messina Bridge would begin on 23 December 2009, and announced a pledge of €1.3&nbsp;billion as a contribution to the bridge's total cost, estimated at €6.1&nbsp;billion.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7928949.stm Italy revives Sicily bridge plan from BBC News]. Retrieved 8 March 2009.</ref>
The plan has been criticized by environmental associations and some local Sicilians and Calabrians, concerned with its environmental impact, economic sustainability and even possible infiltrations by organized crime.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/italy/story/0,,1920199,00.html |work=Guardian.co.uk |title=Italian MPs kill plan to bridge Sicily and mainland |date=2 January 2008 |location=London |first=John |last=Hooper |access-date=30 March 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB120777463250502755?mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one&apl=y&r=769642 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |title=No Italian Job Takes Longer Than This Bridge |date=10 April 2008 |first=Gabriel |last=Kahn}}</ref>