The connection Brno-Vienna will lead through Mikulov

Brno/Praha - The expressway connecting Brno with Vienna will pass through Mikulov. The long-standing dispute between the Ministry of Transport, the South Moravian Region, and ecologists was decided by the government today. The Green Party also pushed for the use of the D2 highway from Brno to Břeclav and the construction of a connector to the Austrian border. The completion of this section will offer transit trucks from Poland a shorter route to Vienna, said Martin Ander from the Green Party in a statement to ČTK today.
   The government today expressed its agreement with both connection points at the Austrian borders, namely both R52 in Mikulov and the extended R55 in Břeclav-Poštorná. "In addition to the crossing in Mikulov, where the Austrian side is already building a road, negotiations will also start regarding the connection through Břeclav," added Ander.
   "I regret that we were unable to convince our coalition partners that the decision to connect Brno with Vienna via Mikulov is economically and ecologically less advantageous for the Czech Republic than the route through Břeclav. However, I welcome the agreement on the extension of R55, as it will allow Brno to be relieved of transit trucks from Poland and protect the valuable part of the Lednice-Valtice area around Valtice," stated the Minister of Education and MP for the South Moravian Green Party, Ondřej Liška, in a press release today.
   Today's government resolution also includes the task to expand the D1 highway in the section Kývalka - Holubice by adding a third lane and increasing the capacity of the grade-separated intersections designated as Brno-center and Brno-south.
   According to the plans of the region, the Ministry of Transport, and the Road and Motorway Directorate (ŘSD), Brno should be connected to Vienna by the expressway R52 in 2014. The planned route passes through Pohořelice, the waterworks of Nové Mlýny, and closely bypasses the Protected Landscape Area of Pálava near Mikulov. The Moravian section of the road is expected to cost about ten billion crowns.