page_title: Skopje
section_title: Main connections
hierarchical_section_title: Skopje / Transport / Main connections
caption_attribution_description: English: E65/M4 Macedonia, Skopje Northern BypassМакедонски: Северна скопска обиколница Е65 / М-4
context_page_description: Skopje is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre.
  The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; remains of Neolithic settlements have been found within the old Kale Fortress that overlooks the modern city centre. Originally a Paeonian city, Scupi became the capital of Dardania in the second century BC. On the eve of the 1st century AD, the settlement was seized by the Romans and became a military camp. When the Roman Empire was divided into eastern and western halves in 395 AD, Scupi came under Byzantine rule from Constantinople. During much of the early medieval period, the town was contested between the Byzantines and the Bulgarian Empire, whose capital it was between 972 and 992.
  From 1282, the town was part of the Serbian Empire, and acted as its capital city from 1346 to 1371. In 1392, Skopje was conquered by the Ottoman Turks, who called it Üsküb, with this name also being in use in English for a time. The town stayed under Ottoman control for over 500 years, serving as the capital of pashasanjak of Üsküp and later the Vilayet of Kosovo.
context_section_description: Skopje is located near three other capital cities, Prishtina (87 kilometres (54 miles) away), Tirana (291 km) and Sofia (245 km). Thessaloniki is 233 kilometres (145 miles) south and Belgrade is 433 kilometres (269 miles) north. Skopje is also at the crossroad of two Pan-European corridors: Corridor X, which runs between Austria and Greece, and Corridor VIII, which runs from the Adriatic in Albania to the Black sea in Bulgaria. Corridor X links Skopje to Thessaloniki, Belgrade and Western Europe, while Corridor VIII links it with Tirana and Sofia.
  Corridor X locally corresponds to the M-1 motorway (E75), which is the longest North Macedonian highway. It also corresponds to the Tabanovce-Gevgelija railway. Corridor VIII, less developed, corresponds to the M-4 motorway and the Kičevo-Beljakovce railway. Skopje is not quite on the Corridor X and the M-1 does not pass on the city territory. Thus the junction between the M-1 and M-4 is located some 20 kilometres (12 miles) east, close to the airport. Although Skopje is geographically close to other major cities, movement of people and goods is not optimized, especially with Albania. This is mainly due to poor infrastructure. As a result, 61.8% of Skopjans have never been to Tirana, while only 6.7% have never been to Thessaloniki and 0% to Sofia. Furthermore, 26% of Thessalonians, 33% of Sofians and 37% of Tiranans have never been to Skopje.
  The first highways were built during Yugoslav period, when Skopje was linked through the Brotherhood and Unity Highway to, what was then, Yugoslav capital Belgrade to North, and Greek border to South.
caption: Skopje bypass.
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