From the beginning it was planned to unite the two sections into a single motorway, from Messina to Gela, which would make it possible to optimize connections with the tourist areas and those in the eastern area of Sicily at the time undergoing industrialisation. The two sections of the Autostrada A18 are connected to each other, without interruption, through the Catania's Ring Road (from Catania Nord to the Passo Martino district), the Autostrada Catania-Siracusa (from the Passo Martino district to Augusta-Villasmundo) and the strada statale 114 Orientale Sicula [it] (from Augusta-Villasmundo to Syracuse).