D8 motorway (Czech Republic)


D8 motorway is a highway in the Central and North Bohemian region of the Czech Republic. It connects Prague through Ústí nad Labem with the German border at Petrovice and the Bundesautobahn 17 at Bad Gottleuba, leading to Dresden. It forms part of the major European route E55 and the Pan-European Corridor IV.

Segments

The first sections of the highway running from the Prague Ring to the Lovosice junction were opened between 1990 and 2000; the northwestern segment leading from Ústí nad Labem to the German border was completed on 21 December 2006, including the longest tunnel in the Czech Republic, the long Panenská tunnel. Another long section from Ústí nad Labem to Řehlovice was opened in 1988 in the course of the construction of the R63 expressway.
Works on remaining long segment between Řehlovice and Lovosice were delayed for several years due to numerous protests and appeals by the Děti Země environmental movement against the route taken through the České Středohoří mountain range, a protected landscape area and nature reserve. From the beginning, the project has been also criticized by some geologists, and lately by the National Financial Audit Office for large cost overrun. In 2013, a major landslide buried part of the under-construction highway. Construction work nevertheless continued and the last part of highway was opened in December 2016 albeit with traffic restrictions between Lovosice and Řehlovice. The restrictions caused by unstable geology; reduced traffic to one lane each on a section. A solution is to reinforce the section with grout which cost 220 million Kč. The traffic restrictions between Lovosice and Řehlovice were removed on 20 September 2017 following the stabilization of the roadway.

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