40 years of highway Bratislava Prague

The D1 highway linking the Slovak capital Bratislava with the Czech capital Prague is the longest running motorway in the former Czechoslovakia. On Sunday, 8th November, it will be 40 years since its final parts were open to public and the 317 km long route became the back-bone corridor of the then federation. The construction of the D1 was approved before WWII in 1938 aiming at linking Prague with Carpathian Ruthenia. The construction works started in May 1939 but were stopped by the war. Highways in Czechoslovakia started to be constructed again in 1967. In April 1969, the Slovak part of the D2 went under construction linking Bratislava and Malacky so to join the D1 and link Bratislava, Brno and Prague. This was the first highway in Slovakia. It joined the D1 on 8th November 1980.