The oldest and longest Czech highway D1, which runs from Prague through Brno and Ostrava to the border with Poland, is finished. The last ten-kilometer section around the town of Přerov in the Olomouc region was opened on Friday by Czech Minister of Transport Ivan Bednárik together with the leadership of the Directorate of Roads and Highways (ŘSD). It took 58 years to build this traffic structure, reports TASR in Prague.
- The D1 highway runs from Prague to the border with Poland.
- The construction of the highway took a total of 58 years.
- The D1 highway is 376 kilometers long, including the Klimkovice tunnel.
- The basic Czech highway network should be completed by 2033.
“The completion of the D1 highway in the Říkovice – Přerov section means the complete completion of the longest and most important Czech highway, which has been under construction since 1967… Although this historical milestone is extremely important, at the same time we must move quickly towards the next one, which is the completion of the entire basic highway network,” said Bednárik.
Significance for Moravia
The director of ŘSD Radek Mátl pointed out that the open section is of great importance for the region of Central Moravia and that 70 percent of the trucks will disappear from Přerov alone. However, he considers its opening on Friday to be an important day for the entire Czech highway network. “The economic benefits of having the entire D1 completed are clear. But we are building highways mainly for people who live near roads and for drivers to get to their destinations safely and well,” he added.
Work on the original form of the D1, which was supposed to connect Prague with Podkarpatská Rusa, began in 1939. During the war, construction was interrupted and in 1950 it stopped completely. Construction of D1 in its current form began in September 1967. In July 1971, the first ever highway section was opened, between Prague and the village of Mirošovice in the Central Bohemian region. The continuous stretch between Prague and Brno, which is the busiest highway section in the Czech Republic, was completed in 1980.
Unique elements
There is only one tunnel – Klimkovice – approximately one kilometer long on the 376-kilometer highway. The highest bridge on this highway is the 426-meter-long Vysočina bridge, which is located at a height of 77.5 meters. The highway ends at the border with Poland near Bohumín, where it is connected to the Polish highway A1.
According to ŘSD, there are currently approximately 1,500 kilometers of highways in the Czech Republic. The basic highway network, which is expected to be completed in 2033, should be 2,000 kilometers long.
