Skip to main content

Slovakia highway section open to drivers

An important highway section in Slovakia is now open to drivers
By MJ Woof February 15, 2021 Read time: 1 min
A stretch of Slovakia’s D1 route is now open – image courtesy of © Sjankauskas, Dreamstime.com

A new 11km section of the D1 highway in Slovakia is now open to drivers. The stretch bypasses Zilina and connects Hricovske Podhradie with Lietavska Lucka. This section of the D1 includes the Zilina tunnel and the 2.5km Ovciarsko tunnel. The work cost €445.17 million and construction was carried out by a contracting consortium comprising Doprastav Metrostav, Strabag and Vahostav.

Construction of the tunnel sections posed challenges for the builders. 

The D1 forms part of the trans-European Network (TEN) and is Corridor 5, connecting Ukraine with the Venice, on the Mediterranean. The Slovakian section of the route connects Ukraine with Vienna and runs through Bratislava.

Related Content

  • Bulgaria plans for operating road infrastructure
    February 21, 2012
    There is a lot of work to do on Bulgarian roads, but the government has plans to increase the length of highways built each year as Krasimir Krastanov reports. Bulgarian roads with a pavement make up 98.4% of all the country's roads, while 92.5% of them have an asphalt surface and 82.8% of them are able to carry 10tonnes/axle.
  • Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava picks up award
    February 10, 2017
    Slovakia’s D4/R7 zero bypass of Bratislava has picked up the Best Transaction in Europe award given by the UK magazine Project Finance International. The Ministry of Transport and Construction received the award in London in early February. The ministry said that the contract is notable for being the first whereby a project had combined funding from European Union investment and structural funds and the EU fund for strategic investment. World Highways reported in January that construction will start early
  • Austria-Slovenia tunnel project awarded
    August 9, 2018
    Construction of the second tube of the Karawanks Tunnel connecting Austria and Slovenia is now going ahead. The work will be headed by Austrian contractors, ARGE Swietelsky Tunnelbau and Swietelsky Baugesellschaft. The 7.8km-long tunnel route runs under the Alpine Karawanks mountain range. The Austrian motorway operator Asfinag is investing around €168 million into the project, while the European Commission is providing €25 million. The work being carried out will include building new rescue routes as wel
  • Czech Republic: permit for D11 section moving ahead
    October 25, 2019
    The Czech highway authority has applied for permits to start work on a 41km stretch of the D11 motorway, from Prague to the border with Poland at a cost of around €853 million. Last year a consortium comprising contractors Eurovia, Metrostav and Swietelsky began work on a stretch of the D11 connecting Hradec Kralove and Smirice in the north of the country with completion of the €100.5 million project in 2022. The D11 motorway connecting Prague and Hradec Králové began in 1978. It is part of European r