D1 motorway (Czech Republic)

D1 Motorway
D1 Motorway
Dálnice D1
Route information
	Part of E50 E55 E59 E65 E462
Length	366 km (227 mi) Planned: 376.5 km (233.9 mi)
Major junctions
From	D52 near Brno; D2 near Brno; D46 near Vyškov; D49 near Hulín; D55 near Přerov (planned); D35 near Lipník nad Bečvou; D48 near Bělotín; A1 border with Poland
Location
Country	Czech Republic
Regions	Prague, Central Bohemian, Vysočina, South Moravian, Zlín, Olomouc, Moravian-Silesian
Major cities	Prague, Jihlava, Brno, Přerov, Ostrava
Highway system
	Highways in the Czech Republic;

The D1 motorway (

AADT of 99,000 vehicles per day near Prague.^[2]

Velký Bočkov (on the Czechoslovak – Romanian border). On 23 December 1938 the government issued Decree no. 372/1938 Coll. concerning the construction of motorways, establishing the General Motorway Directorate. This decree called for construction of an east-west motorway within four years.^[3]^[4]

As of January 1939, the General Motorway Directorate had 108 employees. On 13 January 1939, the Prague – Jihlava – Brno – Slovak border motorway project was approved, and construction was started on two segments: Chodov (now part of Prague) – Humpolec; and Zástřizly – Lužná. The prime minister of Carpathian Ruthenia, Avgustyn Voloshyn, requested that the Slovak border – Chust segment be added to the plan as well. Construction began on the Zástřizly – Lužná segment on 24 January in Zástřizly in the Chřiby mountains. ^[4]

The

German occupation of Czechoslovakia brought only small technical changes to the project, and the construction of another segment, Chodov – Humpolec, began in May 1939. The increasing demands of World War II slowed down the construction, and the works were completely halted in 1942. After the war the works were resumed mainly on major bridges in 1946, but only with a small workforce.^[4]

After 1948 the works continued. But in January 1949 the segment in Chřiby was abandoned, and the Prague – Humpolec segment met the same fate one year later. All 77 km of motorway under construction at that time, including 60 bridges, remained in disuse.[4]

Second attempt

In the 1960s, traffic was growing very quickly, and a new plan for a D1 highway from Prague to the Soviet Union border was formulated. Work on the Prague – Brno section started in 1967, mainly using the old route from the first attempt. The 21-km long Prague – Mirošovice segment was completed in 1971, and the 205-km long route to Brno was finished in 1980.^{[citation needed]}

In Slovakia, construction started in 1973 with the 14-km long Ivachnová – Liptovský Mikuláš section, together with the construction of the Liptovská Mara dam. The 19-km Prešov – Košice motorway was added in 1980. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s the 19-km long Brno – Vyškov segment was built, along with another 20 km from Liptovský Mikuláš to Hybe in Slovakia.^{[citation needed]}

After the

R49 expressway near Hulín, and the route curved north to Přerov (and Lipník nad Bečvou

).

The segment from Lipník nad Bečvou to Ostrava was constructed from 2004 – 2009. Due to historical reasons it was named the Motorway D47; however, it was opened as part of the D1. The segment from Ostrava to the Polish border (and Autostrada A1) opened in late 2012, but only for cars under 3.5 tonnes,^[5] because the Polish side had problems with the bridge at Mszana village. From 2014 the bridge is open, and it is possible to drive from Ostrava to the Polish border and on to Katowice. The Přerov – Lipník nad Bečvou segment opened in December 2019.

The only section which is not yet completed is the Říkovice – Přerov segment. Construction on this segment started in 2022, with an expected completion date in 2026.^[6]