Hell named D1. Major repairs end this year: what all modernization will bring
It is the oldest, longest and also the busiest. The D1 motorway from Prague via Brno and Ostrava on the Polish border has a long history. The first plans for a transport axis across Czechoslovakia were made in the 1930s, albeit on a different route.
Today, two continuous sections are in operation – from Prague to Říkovice near Přerov with a length of 272 days and from Přerov on the Polish border near Věřňovice with a length of 94 kilometers.
It will be done in October
For the ninth year in a row, motorists have been bothered by construction work during the modernization of the D1 in the busiest section between Prague and Brno, which slows down traffic and has parking from the motorway in the event of any major accident. The first work on the project, which the Directorate of Roads and Motorways (ŘSD) refers to as the New D1, began in May 2013, when workers boarded the sections from Větrný Jeníkov to Jihlava and from Lhotka to Velká Bíteš.
After years of modernization, ŘSD finally has good news for motorists. It will be done this year! The construction of the new D1 motorway between Mirošovice and Kývalka is nearing completion. The last restriction will disappear in October and the renewal of this key link between Bohemia and Moravia will be completed.
“The builders are in full swing, we will complete the work on the remaining 41 kilometers of the D1 motorway by the beginning of October, and the Hvězdonice – Mirošovice section will be completed in August. Thank you to all the drivers for their patience and consideration in the congestion, we will soon be driving along the completely renovated D1, “said Minister of Transport Karel Havlíček.
According to ŘSD, the restrictions will disappear on the first weekend of October. During the summer, workers on the D1 will work on repairs of two rest areas – Troubsko and Rohlenka near Brno.
Modifications between Prague and Brno were divided into twenty sections, always between individual exits. Modernization, especially in the extension from the current 26.5 meters to 28 meters. The parking lanes are also three-fourths meter wider, which means greater safety when the vehicle is parked. In addition, this extension allows guidance in the 2 + 2 lane mode even at the time of closing one belt.
In addition, in the future, ŘSD must adjust the D1 motorway around Brno to six lanes. This is a section from the exit Kývalka to Holubice. So far, the six-lane layout is only on the oldest and busiest section between Prague and Mirošovice, where the motorway was widened between 1996 and 1999.
Modernization of the D1 motorway.
Heavy traffic and construction. There is no shortage of accidents
Heavy traffic along with construction work, constrictions and speed limits. This is an everyday reality on D1. Then one rushing driver is enough, and an accident is born. Therefore, it is probably not surprising that five sections of the D1 ranked among the ten most risky accident sites. Fill it out with the new data Accident portal, which was established in cooperation with the Czech Insurers’ Bureau and whose media partner is Deník.
In terms of the number of accidents, the section near the village of Jažlovice in the district of Prague-East dominates, approximately on the 13th kilometer of the D1 motorway in the direction of Prague. In the last two years, there have been 221 accidents, the total damage has climbed to almost 24 million crowns.
A critical section was also the entrance to the highway near Mirošovice at the 21st kilometer. Reconstruction began here in October 2018. Traffic was cut into two lanes, which complicated the driveway on the highway. It is a section near Prague and very often columns are formed here. The least major cause was excessive speed due to traffic density. There were 62 accidents in this section with damage of almost eight million crowns.
In the last two years, a lot has been broken down on the D1 near Speřice in the Pelhřimov region, Mikulášov or Slavníč in the Havlíčkův Brod region and behind Velký Meziříčí in the direction of Brno. Here, the most common cause of the accident was failure to drive in combination with driving too fast.
“If the driver is driving at an excessive speed and is not yet following the traffic in front of him, he will be surprised, for example, by the column that formed in front of him or traffic signs that lead the traffic to a narrow or a second lane. Then he fails to react and crashes into the vehicle in front of him. These shocks, especially at full speed, tend to have fatal consequences, “said police spokeswoman Dana Čírtková.
Probably the country’s biggest mass accident on the D1 motorway. On Thursday, March 20, 2008, between the 90th and 134th kilometers near Řehořov in the Jihlava region, 231 cars collided. Police officers dealt with 93 separate accidents, in which two buses, 58 trucks and 131 cars crashed. The damage was estimated at almost 28 million. Fortunately, no one lost their lives, but three people were seriously injured and 27 lightly.
Alexander Dubček, the architect of the Prague Spring and the chairman of the Federal Assembly after the Velvet Revolution, suffered serious injuries in an accident on September 1, 1992, not far from here, at the 89th kilometer near Humpolec. The driver of a service BMW skidded to a heavy speed due to heavy rain and flew off the highway at high speed. Alexander Dubcek succumbed to his injuries on November 7 of the same year. Today, the Dubček Memorial is located near the accident site.
Interesting facts from history
– The first proposal for the construction of a highway across Czechoslovakia appeared as early as 1935. The Pilsen – Košice National Road did not seem to large settlements, such as Prague or Brno.
– Jan Antonín Baťa developed a project at his own expense for the route from Cheb to the Romanian border in Subcarpathian Russia. Again, he does not resist Prague or Brno.
– After the Munich Agreement, it was necessary to rework the plans and a new version for the route Prague – Brno and a large circuit around Prague was created in a record twelve days.
– After the German occupation, the plans were slightly modified, but construction began in January 1939 and lasted until 1942.
– After the war, President Beneš first decided by decree to continue construction, but after 1950, the highway was no longer planned.
– It was not decided to resume construction until 1963, with the fact that basically the entire original motorway body was used.
– Construction began again in 1967 and on July 12, 1971, the first section from Prague to Mirošovice was opened.
– The continuous motorway route from Prague to Brno was completed on November 7, 1980, when the last section near Humpolec was put into operation.
– In 1983, the motorway to Holubice was extended and in 1988 and 1992, two more sections after Vyškov were put into operation.
– In 1996, the original plan to continue to Starý Hrozenkov and Slovakia was revised. Newly, the D1 was to lead to Lipník nad Bečvou and connect to the D47 there.
– Nine years later, it was decided that the routes D47 and D1 would unite, and D1 would lead to the Czech-Polish border behind Bohumín. This section was put into operation in 2012 along the entire route.
– In December 2019, the last section from Lipník nad Bečvou to Přerov was added. The section from Přerov to Říkovice remains to be completed.
There are 10 left as well. Přerov is waiting impatiently
However, the entire D1 motorway is still not finished. Of the planned 377 days from Prague on the Polish border, the last ten million remain to be completed. It is a highway bypass of Přerov, whose inhabitants have long suffered from heavy traffic. However, construction has been blocked by environmental activists for years. Their demands concern not only the protection of specially protected species of animals and plants, but activists have also proposed deviating the routes of motorways by 150 meters from Dluhonice towards Přerov.
Construction will most likely not begin this year either. The issued zoning decision will be re-examined by the court. Directorate of Roads and Motorways (ŘSD) also postponed the deadline for submitting bids to the tender until the end of October this year.
In addition, exemptions from the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) will expire in November. ŘSD CEO Radek Mátl recently stated that it is necessary to obtain a building permit by then. In that case, construction could begin next year. “If the appeals commission revoked the building permit, or if it was subsequently revoked by the court, we would have to repeat the EIA process,” said Radek Mátl.