Lengthy reconstruction work on Czech D1 highway to be completed by October

The Czech Republic's D1 motorway should be fully passable by the beginning of October following a complete reconstruction that has been going on in various stages since 2013. Tomorrow, traffic restrictions between Mirošovice and Hvězdonice near Prague will be removed.

Three sections of the motorway have yet to be completed, but should be ready in about two months. According to Radek Mátel, director general of the Directorate of Roads and Motorways, the last traffic restrictions on the D1 should be removed on the weekend of October 2-3.

"This does not mean that some small landscaping and so on will not be made along the highway afterwards," Czech Transport Minister Karel Havlíček told journalists today.

"But that was taken into account. It is important that drivers will be able to drive at full speed [from October]."

At a press conference at the Poddubí rest stop on the D1 earlier today, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš pointed out that of the 160 kilometers of the D1 that have been undergoing repair during the lengthy reconstruction project, the final 33.5 kilometers now remain.

Babiš estimated the cost of the complete reconstruction at 24 billion crowns.

Work on the remaining sections at Koberovice will be finished the last weekend in September, and at Velký Beranov and Devíti křížů during the first weekend of October.

The D1 highway is the oldest and longest Czech highway, and also the busiest. It has also been the most dangerous in some sections, and now also the slowest due to frequent repairs and many years of modernization.

Extensive reconstruction on the D1 between Mirošovice near Prague and Kývalka near Brno began in 2013, and repairs were originally scheduled to end in 2018. Work on the section between Mirošovice and Hvězdonice began in 2019.