The A72 is an autoroute (

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

) in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It is long. The motorway is operated by ''Autoroutes du Sud de la France'' ( ASF) and links

Balbigny Balbigny () is a commune in the Loire department in central France. History Balbigny owes its name to a Roman general named Balbinius who based himself here in order to conduct a war. Nothing survives from this period. The earliest identified ...

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the ...

on one of the steepest and meandrous motorways in France. Over of the motorway is limited to 110 km/h (70 mph) as sections are considered too dangerous for the standard 130 km/h (80 mph) speed limit. The motorway has 2 lanes both directions with 3 lane sections near

. The road is also numbered the

European route The international E-road network is a numbering system for roads in Europe developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). The network is numbered from E1 up and its roads cross national borders. It also reaches Centr ...

E70. In 2006, the section between

Clermont-Ferrand Clermont-Ferrand (, ; ; oc, label= Auvergnat, Clarmont-Ferrand or Clharmou ; la, Augustonemetum) is a city and commune of France, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, with a population of 146,734 (2018). Its metropolitan area (''aire d'attrac ...

and the A89 spur became part of the A89.

Junctions

External links

A72 autoroute
in Saratlas {{Autoroutes A72