D1 motorway becomes a reality

At the end of November the Moravian-Silesian Region received  a long-awaited gift. Two more sections of the D47 motorway were opened, finally providing a motorway link from Ostrava to Prague. Ostrava and its Region are no longer cut off from the rest of the country: the former D47 motorway is now linked up to the D1 Brno motorway, and has been renumbered D1 for its entire length. The Bílovec - Hladké Životice section is now fully open, and the Hladké Životice - Bělotín section is currently open with one lane in each direction.

According to available information, this section should be fully open by August of next year. The Ostrava conurbation previously lacked a high-quality, high-capacity link to the national motorway network and thus to the Europe-wide network of rapid transit arteries; it had to rely on the R48 road and a growing network of expressways in Poland. Miroslav Novák, the Deputy Regional President responsible for transport, explained: "The completion of the D47 has been long awaited not only by the Region's companies but by all its people,  whose lives will be made much easier. Besides making travelling a quicker and more comfortable experience, it also links the Region to the national motorway network - which is an essential requirement for the continuing influx of new investments." The last part of the motorway that remains to be opened is the short section from Bohumín to the Polish border, which is scheduled  for completion by 2012 at the latest.