Motorway connection with Ostrava established!
Today has become a historical moment for transportation infrastructure. The Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic is opening two motorway sections from Bělotín through Hladké Životice to Bílovec. This means that Ostrava, the Czech Republic's third largest city, has now been officially connected to the motorway network. Just two years ago, not a single kilometre of the D47 project was in operation. This also marks the actual connection of the western and eastern ends of our country, as it is now possible to travel all the way from Rozvadov near German border to Bohumín near the Polish border using a four-lane motorway.
These projects are very important for drivers driving from Prague, Brno, and Olomouc to Ostrava and its surroundings and their commissioning has also brought major traffic changes to the entire Moravia-Silesia Region. "Road I/48 in the direction to Frýdek-Místek, which has hitherto served transit traffic to Ostrava, will be relieved. Part of that traffic will now migrate to the D1 motorway, which is a direct connection to Ostrava and Bohumín," Alfred Brunclík, the CEO of the RMD says, describing the historical moment. From the international viewpoint, the motorway to Ostrava is important for the west-east direction as well as for the north-south direction, i.e., the connection of Poland with Austria, as the D1 will be connected to the Polish A1 motorway towards Katowice on the Czech-Polish border.
The two new sections are named "4705 Bělotín - Hladké Životice" and "4706 Hladké Životice - Bílovec" and are part of the set of D47 subprojects with a total length of 80 km. Project 4706 (12 km) has now been commissioned as fully completed, while Project 4705 (18 km) is now operating on just one half of the motorway, albeit in four lanes and with a speed reduction to 80 km/h. This project will be fully commissioned in August 2010, including all exits under operation. Thanks to the two projects, the driving time from Bělotín to Ostrava-Mariánské hory will be reduced from the current 67 minutes (using the R56 via Frýdek-Místek) to 41 minutes, and even down to 36 minutes when the motorway is completed in August 2010. Generally, the traffic benefits of the new road projects for the region are enormous; for example, in 1997 there was not a single kilometre of road permitting the speed of up to 130 km/h between Olomouc and Ostrava. Nowadays, the entire route is passable in this way thanks to both the new D1 and the R35 Olomouc - Lipník n. B. motorway, which is linked directly to the D1 until the completion of the last sections of the D1 around Přerov.
Project 4705 Bělotín - Hladké Životice includes 22 bridges totalling more than 3 km, 9 noise barriers totalling more than 8 km in length, 1 exit, a Management and Maintenance Centre in Mankovice, an ecoduct, and a number of large bridges: the 655 metre-long elevated road across the Luha, an 844 metre-long elevated road crossing the Odra River valley and the railroad towards Suchdol nad Odrou, and an 839 metre-long elevated road across Husí Creek in Hladké Životice.
Project 4706 Hladké Živoříce - Bílovec includes 18 bridges totalling almost 2 km, 8 noise barriers totalling more than 4 km in length, two exits, an elevated road across another road and the creeks of Bílovka, Jamník, and Sezina, and a bridge over the Děrenský Creek valley.
The commissioning of the new section of the D1 motorway connecting Ostrava to the motorway network on 25 November 2009 included the opening of two more roads - a relay of the I/57 road in Hladké Životicíe and the Severní spoj (North Link) in Ostrava. These two and other related road projects and feeders bring the benefits of the highway to the Moravia-Silesia Region while allowing revitalization of the area and improving the overall traffic situation in the region.
Information on both projects:
Project name: D47 Motorway, 4705 Bělotín - Hladké Životice
Location: Moravia-Silesia and Olomouc Regions
Project commencement: May 2006
Price: CZK 3,640,150,936
Length: 18,076 metres
Project name: D47 Motorway, 4706 Hladké Životice - Bílovec
Location: Moravia-Silesia Region
Project commencement: March 2006
Price: CZK 2,798,490,469
Length: 11,681 metres
