D4 motorway () is a Slovak motorway which, when completed, will form the outer ring road around

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

, speed up access to motorway networks and partially reduce traffic on the road network in the catchment areas of

. The D4 is one of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

's largest public-private partnership ( PPP) projects. For decades, there was only a short stretch from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

n border at Jarovce to the junction with D2 (part of the former D61), construction of which started in 1996 and was opened in 1998. Construction of various other parts started in the late 2010s, with several openings throughout 2020 and 2021. The extension to the motorway D1 in

is underway, in order to connect the southern bypass of Bratislava to the country's main traffic artery. The outer ring road also intersects with expressway R7; parts of which are already open as well.

Chronology

The connecting motorway on the Austrian side, Nordost Autobahn A6 was opened on 19 November 2007. The highway connects the border with Slovakia to the Ost Autobahn A4. It provided connection to 3rd of its 5 neighboring country. Until 2007,

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

was connected by motorway only to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

and

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In 2016, the construction began of the

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway, and expressway. Other similar terms ...

section from the D2x D4 junction near Jarovce to

, Rača. All the section was set to open in 2020, which was delayed due to construction problems. Therefore, only the Bratislava, South - Bratislava, Podunajské Biskupice and the Bratislava, Podunajské Biskupice - Bratislava, Vrakuňa sections were opened in 2020. The rest of the section opened in the fall of 2021. However, the D1x D4 junction has been delayed all the way to the year 2026. On 24 November 2024, the slip road at

-vychod was put into operation, in the direction of D1 towards Trnava.

Future developments

Funded by a strategic investment, the

-Rača –

-Záhorská Bystrica section is planned for future construction, including the twin-bore ''Karpaty'' tunnel at a length of . As of 2024, the planned construction start date is the fourth quarter of 2029 and the planned completion date is the second quarter of 2036. The ''Karpaty'' tunnel would be the second longest of its type in Europe, and will take the new D4 motorway under the mountains. The tunnel will cost around €1-1.5bn.

Route description

Gallery

File:Diaľnica D4 - Ketelec 2.jpg, Almost finished motorway D4 in May 2020 File:D4 Diaľnica.png, D4 near Zelená voda

References

Content in this edit is translated from the existing Slovak Wikipedia article at :sk:Diaľnica D4 (Slovensko); see its history for attribution.

External links