The years-awaited highway through Mikulov to Austria has a new chance

The plan comes with a new solution to the disputed section in the zone of the Novomlýn Reservoirs, where critics fear environmental damage. The highway should cross the reservoirs with a 2.5-kilometer-long bridge arched four to seven meters above the surface. The second option is to run the road along the embankment.

An EIA environmental impact assessment should recommend one of the options. “The length of the process will depend on the Ministry of the Environment. But it is assumed that the opinion will be issued next year,” directorate spokesman Jan Studecký told Práv.

The ministry will assess the entire missing section, i.e. 23 kilometers between Pohořelice and the border with Austria.

The planned construction is divided into three sections: from Pohořelice to Nové Mlýn, then a crossing over the Nové Mlýny water reservoir and finally a section from Nové Mlýn to the state border. According to Studecký, the company hopes to start the construction of the two main sections in 2026, through the reservoir, where the preparation is the most demanding, then in 2028 at the earliest. There are to be four level crossings on the new route, near Ivana, near Perná and also in the north and south of Mikulov.

The section from Pohořice via Mikulov to Austria received a positive EIA assessment for the first time back in 2005, but due to the opposition of a number of associations and people, the road engineers were subsequently unable to obtain all the required permits. Therefore, they decided to go through the preparation from the beginning.

The highway would speed up the journey by car to Vienna and the sea, and it would also relieve the residents of Mikulov, where trucks still pass through the city on roundabouts. There is so much traffic on the main road that drivers from the surrounding villages have trouble getting from the side to the main road.

The people of Mikulov have already heard countless promises about the construction of a highway and a bypass, without anything changing. The town hall therefore insists on the introduction of at least basic measures to increase security. Mainly at the intersection of road I/52 with the turnoff to Březí, which is at the forefront of accident statistics not only in the South Moravian Region.

“For the city, a safe solution for passing through Mikulov is essential,” said Markéta Ničová, spokeswoman for the Mikulov town hall. The tourist-popular city is now negotiating with the Directorate of Roads, the region and the police about a potential roundabout instead of a dangerous intersection. “However, any construction is tied to the construction of the planned D52 highway and the Mikulov bypass,” the spokeswoman recalled. “The highway keeps moving away and we can’t rely on it,” she added.

The construction of the highway from Brno to Austria has been delayed for a long time by disputes with ecologists and local residents. They often concern the section around Mikulov. The territorial decision was challenged repeatedly by the Austrian association Virus, which was upheld by the Supreme Administrative Court last year. Out of a total of 45 kilometers, less than seventeen are in operation.