Highway D1 ( ) is the main highway of the Czech Republic. Currently it connects the two biggest Czech cities, Prague and Brno, in the future it will link Ostrava and the border with Poland (Autostrada A1). As of November 2009 it is 334.661 km (207.949 mi) long, but the planned length is 376.487 km (233.938 mi).

History

With increasing automobile traffic in the 1930s in Czechoslovakia discussions were brought forward regarding the construction of new roads designed to carry the large volume of traffic. The discussions dealt with a backbone road from Bohemia, through Moravia and Slovakia to Carpathian Ruthenia with many variants. The plan of a Cheb – Plzeň – Německý Brod – Brno – Žilina - Užgorod – Chust highway was the one chosen, which was sponsored by the Bata Shoes company owner Jan Antonín Baťa in 1937. A year later the detailed project was ready to be realized.

The Munich Agreement in 1938 deprived the country of some fundamental road and rail routes. The government hurried works for the preparation of three major infrastructure projects to the new borders, the Německý Brod - Brno railway, the Plzeň - Ostrava road and a 4-lane highway from Prague to Velký Bočkov (on the Czechoslovak - Romanian border). The project for the first segment Prague - Lužná was ready in January 1939, and construction began on 24 January in Chřiby on the Zástřizly - Lužná segment.

The German occupation of Czechoslovakia brought only small technical changes to the project and the construction of another segment Prague - 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. The segment in Chřiby was abandoned in 1949 and the segment Prague - Humpolec one year later. All 77 km remain in disuse.

Segments

In the 1960s, traffic was growing very quickly, and a new plan for a D1 highway Prague - Soviet Union border was formulated. Work on the Prague - Brno section started in 1967, mainly using the old highway route. The 21 km long Prague - Mirošovice segment was completed in 1971, and the 205 km long route to Brno in 1980.

In the Slovakian part 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 highway was added in 1980. In the late 1980s and the early 1990s the 19 km long Brno - Vyškov segment was built and another 20 km from Liptovský Mikuláš to Hybe in Slovakia.

After the dissolution of Czechoslovakia route changes, construction was no longer planned to Slovakia, but instead to Lipník nad Bečvou (the replacement of the planned route is the Expressway R49). Due to growing traffic near Prague, the first segment to Mirošovice was widened from 4 lanes to 6 lanes and there are similar plans for widening around Brno as well. After the dissolution, no new sections were built. In 2002, construction of an 18 km long extension from Vyškov eastwards started and it was opened in 2005. Currently, segments around Kroměříž are under construction.The segment from Lipník nad Bečvou to Ostrava and then to the Polish border is being planned and is to be constructed (due to historical reasons) as Highway D47, however it will be opened as part of D1 highway. The first part of this segment was opened in December 2007 (Ostrava-Rudná - Bohumín, 17 km).

Highway altitude

• Maximum: 655 meters above sea level (km 104)
• Minimum: 197 meters above sea level (km 370)

See also

• D1

References

1. http://www.ceskedalnice.cz/dalnice/d1
2. http://www.ceskedalnice.cz/dalnice/d1

External links

• Exit list of D1 highway
• Info on ceskedalnice.cz
• Info on dalnice-silnice.cz
• Info about pre-war bridges on dalnice.com