State Road 22 (Serbia)


State Road 22, commonly known as Ibar Highway, is an IB-class road, connecting Belgrade with Šumadija and Western Serbia and finally with Montenegro at Špiljani border crossing.
It starts with Orlovača interchange in Belgrade's municipality of Čukarica and is going through several major municipalities such as Ljig, Gornji Milanovac, Preljina, Kraljevo and Novi Pazar. In the southern section, highway goes in parallel to the upper course of the river Ibar, hence the name.
Before the new road categorization regulation given in 2013, the route wore the following names: M 22 and M 2 / A2, A4, 15 and 32.
The road is a part of the following European routes: E65 and E80, E761 and E763.

Motorway alternative

In order to provide the safer and faster traffic link of Belgrade with Western Serbia and Montenegrin coast, and to alleviate the dangers of the Ibar Highway, the new A2 motorway is under construction from Čačak to border with Montenegro. The section from Belgrade bypass to Čačak was completed in 2019, and since then the traffic over the highway on section from Belgrade to Čačak was significantly reduced.

Accident statistics

A single-lane carriageway, it bears heavy car and truck traffic between major cities of Belgrade, Čačak, Kraljevo and Novi Pazar, as well as transit traffic towards Montenegro, and occasional agricultural machinery is not unseen. If features long stretches of straight road interrupted by dangerous curves. Speeding, DUI and other traffic offences are major causes of accidents, most of them occurring during the night.
In three-year span from 2017 to 2019, a total of 1,736 traffic accidents happened on its route, with 86 deaths and 1,619 injured people.
Before the completion of motorway on section from Belgrade to Čačak, with more than 18,000 vehicles passing the highway daily, it was one of the most frequent roads in Serbia. Often called the "black highway", it is considered the most dangerous road in Serbia, averaging several hundreds traffic accidents annually.

Sections

Section numberLengthDistanceSection name
02201/Orlovača interchange – Ripanj
02202Ripanj – Lipovička šuma
02203Lipovička šuma – Lipovička šuma
02204Lipovička šuma – Meljak
02205Meljak – Meljak
02206Meljak – Stepojevac
02207Stepojevac – Stepojevac
02208Stepojevac – Lazarevac
02209Lazarevac – Ćelije
02210Ćelije – Županjac
02211Županjac – Dudovica
02212Dudovica – Poljanice
02213Poljanice – Ljig
02214Ljig – Kadina Luka
02215Kadina Luka – Dići
02216Dići – Ugrinovci
02217Ugrinovci – Bućin Grob
02218Bućin Grob – Gornji Milanovac
02219Gornji Milanovac – Gornji Milanovac
02220Gornji Milanovac – Preljina
02221Preljina – Mrčajevci
02222Mrčajevci – Kraljevo
02223Kraljevo – Kraljevo
02224Kraljevo – Mataruška Banja
02225Mataruška Banja – Ušće
02226Ušće – Bare
02227Bare – Biljanovac
02228Biljanovac – Brvenik
02229Brvenik – Raška
02230Raška – Raška
02231Raška – Novi Pazar
02232Novi Pazar – Novi Pazar
02233Novi Pazar – Novi Pazar
02234Novi Pazar – Ribariće
02235Ribariće – Bregovi
02236Bregovi – Serbia – Montenegro border