Newly Built Krivan-Mytna Section of R2 Expressway Ceremonially Opened

Krivan, 20 November (TASR) - The Krivan-Mytna stretch of the R2 expressway was ceremonially opened in the village of Krivan in Detva district (Banska Bystrica region) on Thursday morning. The expressway to the Novohrad area, with the longest bridge in Slovakia, which took four years to build, was opened with a symbolic ribbon-cutting ceremony by Transport Minister Jozef Raz (a Smer-SD nominee) and Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD). Drivers will be able to begin using the section as of later on the same afternoon. The Krivan–Mytna stretch runs through difficult terrain in the valley of the Krivansky Potok stream. The some 9-kilometre section was built mostly above ground. It consists of almost 6.5 kilometres of bridges, including the longest bridge in Slovakia, which is 4,374-metres long. The construction work began in 2021, and it was originally scheduled to be completed in the spring of 2024. It was carried out by a consortium of companies - Doprastav, Strabag and Eurovia. A half-century-old landfill near the village of Krivan caused problems and delays, however. The volume of the landfill was up to ten times bigger than originally expected, and it was only removed as late as at the turn of 2024 and 2025. The cost of the project also increased from the initial contract price of €232 million (ex-VAT) to the current amount of around €270 million. In connection with the opening of the newly built section, the National Highway Company (NDS) is also re-opening the follow-up R2 section from Mytna to Tomasovce, which has been closed since mid-August due to the work on the new Krivan-Mytna stretch. Only the southern bypass around Zvolen thus remains without a highway connection on the route between Bratislava and Lucenec. ko/df