D1 motorway: 50th anniversary and new face12/7/2021|Press releasesExactly 50 years ago, on 12 July 1971, first drivers enjoyed the newly opened D1 motorway between Prague and Mirošovice. Since then, D1 has changed drastically and in the last 7 years construction workers and engineers have completely rebuilt 119 kilometres of the motorway under its full operation. The remaining 41 kilometres will be finished by October. “Our most busy motorway will be soon as new. Despite all issues encountered during the construction under full operation, traffic jams and restrictions, we are close to the finish line. Traffic restrictions should be gone during the weekend of 2 and 3 October. The road between Prague and Brno will be finally clear. I would like to thank all drivers for their patience and all construction workers for their hard work”, said the Minister of Transport Karel Havlíček. The construction of D1 motorway, as we know it today, began on 8 September 1967 and on 12 July 1971, the first motorway section between Prague and Mirošovice was opened. The entire road between Prague and Brno was complete on 8 November 1980 with the last motorway section by Humpolec. Between 1996 and 1999, the motorway between Prague and Mirošovice was widened from four to six lanes. However, since 2002 it has been a generally known that the motorway is approaching the end of its life cycle. The construction of a completely new D1 has begun on 9 May 2013 with works on a road stretch Větrný Jeníkov–Jihlava and Lhotka–Velká Bíteš. The beginning of D1 improvement was slow. The process started in 2013 and the deadline was set vaguely. Even after the improvement has begun, discussions were held in 2013 and 2014 on which method should be used. By the end of 2015, a half of the road should have been finished, however, only 4 stretches (out of 25) in a length of 35 out of 160 km were completed. Everybody knew that the original deadline in 2019 cannot be met. It was only after the Minister of Transport Dan Ťok assumed the office (December 2014) that the improvement works fully began. Currently, 4 stretches of 41.5 kilometres are being built: • Hvězdonice-Mirošovice (will be finished in August); • Koberovice-Humpolec (will be finished in September/October); • Velký Beranov-Měřín (will be finished in September/October); • Devět křížů-Ostrovačice (will be finished in September/October). Workers have already improved 119 out of 160 kilometres of D1. For more information, see www.novad1.cz or facebook.com/dalniceD1. Information about current traffic situation are available at dopravniinfo.cz or call the National Traffic Information Centre on +420 800 280 281.