Expert: D1 Section with Visnove Tunnel to Be More Helpful to Transit Drivers

Bratislava, 22 December (TASR) - The opening of the Visnove motorway tunnel on the new D1 section between Lietavska Lucka and Dubna Skala in Zilina region will shorten the journey by approximately 20 minutes, director of the Institute for Transport and Economy (IDH) Ondrej Matej told TASR on Monday, adding that the opening of the new motorway stretch will more help transit drivers traveling from west to east and vice versa. "Due to the non-opening of the exit to the towns of Vrutky and Martin (Zilina region), I expect that more than half of the drivers of passenger cars who travel daily from Zilina to Martin and back will continue to use the first-class road beneath Strecno [Castle]," noted Matej, adding that he expects the same in the case of transit lorry traffic heading from the D3 motorway via Martin to Kremnica (Banska Bystrica region). "This will ultimately not significantly ease the traffic situation in Zilina and Martin," pointed out the transport expert. According to Matej, the fact that almost 27 years have passed since the start of the drilling of the exploratory tunnel on this D1 section in 1998 until its current opening is related to the same reasons as for all construction projects. "It's the constant changing of priorities, the cancellation of ongoing tenders, in this case the scrapping of the PPP project for this section," he said. According to the expert, competition for the lowest price led to the selection of a contractor who had no experience with motorway construction in Slovakia. Matej also cited poor project preparation and complicated construction and environmental legislation as reasons for the lengthy preparation and construction process. The National Highway Company (NDS) on Monday handed over for use a new section of the D1 motorway Lietavska Lucka–Dubna Skala (Zilina region), including the Visnove tunnel, which has a total length of 7.5 kilometres and is the longest motorway tunnel in Slovakia. The entire D1 Lietavska Lucka–Dubna Skala motorway section, including the tunnel, is 13.5 kilometres long. It bypasses the road through the Strecno Gorge on the River Vah, a notorious bottleneck on the main road from western to eastern Slovakia. The section forms part of the planned comprehensive motorway connection between Bratislava and Kosice. am/mcs