The Autocesta "Bratstvo i jedinstv» (Brotherhood and Unity Highway stretched over 1,180 km (733 mi) across former Yugoslavia, from the Austrian border at Rateče near Kranjska Gora in the northwest via Ljubljana, Zagreb, Belgrade and Skopje to Gevgelija on the Greek border in the southeast.
It was coloquially named autoput or autocesta (generic Serbo-Croatian expressions for "highway", "motorway"), as it was the one and only modern highway in the country, connecting four constituent states. This use is gradually fading out after the successor states have built further motorways.
Construction began on initiative of President Josip Broz Tito, who called the project the "Road of brotherhood and unity" (Autoput bratstva i jedinstva) after the motto of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. A first section between Zagreb and Belgrade built with the effort of the Yugoslav People's Army and also of forced labourers opened in 1950. In the 1960s and 70s the autoput became a much frequented holiday route for Turkish immigrants in West Germany (then called Gastarbeiter) and tourists to southeastern Europe. Originally an ordinary road, the carriageway used to be congested with cars and trucks, especially in summertime, when overtired long-term drivers caused numerous accidents. The situation slightly improved after some parts were brought up to modern motorway standards (two lanes for each direction plus an emergency lane) on sections Kranj-Ljubljana (20 km), Zagreb-Slavonski Brod-Županja (259 km) and Sremska Mitrovica-Belgrade-Niš (277 km) from 1977 on. In 1991 traffic almost completely discontinued due to the Yugoslav wars bringing severe damage to several sections.
Since 1994 the route is part of the Pan-European corridor X from Salzburg to Thessaloniki and has been continuously extended. As of 2011, the modern freeway through Slovenia is almost complete, and fully complete in Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia. Works in Slovenia are quickly progressing. The road is part of the modern-day European routes E61 (Villach-Kranj-Ljubljana) E70 (Ljubljana–Zagreb–Sisak–Slavonski Brod–Belgrade) and E75 (Belgrade–Niš–Skopje-Veles–Thessaloniki). Parts of the road constitute the Slovenian motorway A2, the Croatian A3 including the Zagreb bypass, the Serbian Autoput 1 and the M-1 motorway of Macedonia.
