Construction works began on 4 February 1967 and the motorway's initial carriageway was opened on 12 April 1972, before eventually entering in full service to all traffic on 11 September 1972, except for oversize loads that were otherwise restricted to the old DN7 road.

The Pitești bypass segment (13.6 km) was awarded in April 2004 to a joint venture composed of Italian companies Astaldi and Italstrade.

[15] This is the most difficult section of the whole motorway from construction works perspective, considering that it has to cross the Carpathian Mountains, partly along the Olt River Valley.

The tender for the update was launched in April 2012 aiming to have the section finalized by 2020, as total construction costs for its 116.6 kilometers were estimated at 3.25 billion euro.

[27] This was generally regarded as a strategy to avoid a competing alternative route to the section of the A3 motorway between Comarnic and Brașov, which was planned to be built via a concession contract.

[28] During the 2013 Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) reunion the European Union rejected the plan and officially criticized the attempt to switch priorities from constructing the Pitești – Sibiu motorway, determining the Romanian authorities to reconsider the change.

[29][30] After further trying unsuccessfully in December 2013 to persuade the European Union to change the route of the motorway to pass through Râmnicu Vâlcea,[31] the Romanian Government has retendered in June 2014 the update of the 2008 feasibility study for the section,[32] and has signed the contract for this activity with a joint venture composed of the Italian company Spea Ingegneria Europea and the Romanian company Tecnic Consulting Engineering in June 2015, after an appeal from one of the bid participants.

[36] This has prompted reactions from the European Union, the public society and the employees of the Dacia plant near Pitești,[37] and while the Romanian Prime Minister announced during October 2014 that the section will be included as a motorway in the final version of the Master Plan[38] the change was reflected in the document only in July 2015.

In an interview given by the general manager of CNADNR during August 2015 it was announced that possible routes for lots 1 and 5 were already discussed with the joint venture updating the feasibility study and based on that the company will hold public consultations during October 2015, where all interested parties will be invited to comment on the proposed solutions and also to contribute with knowledge regarding the potential problems CNADNR might face on the selected routes.

[41][needs update] According to the approved version of the Master Plan, the section was expected to be completed until 2020 using a mix between European funds, Romanian budget and low interest loans.

[47] The lot 4 (Curtea de Argeș – Tigveni, 9.86 km) followed on 15 November 2021; the contract for its construction was signed with the Austrian company Porr.

The contract for the whole section (17.5 km) forming a partial beltway around Sibiu was initially signed during 2003 with Italian company Todini, with the actual construction work starting during 2004 and scheduled to finish during 2007.

[52][53] The second segment (km 14-17) was awarded in September 2009 to the Romanian company Vectra Service and included also the upgrade of 3.3 kilometers of road connecting the motorway with DN1 that was designated DN1T.

[54] Works started on the first segment during July 2008 and on the second during February 2010 and were scheduled to be fully completed during 2011, but as a result of the authorities insisting on the bypass being finished sooner the section was opened for traffic in December 2010.

[65][66] As of November 2015 construction works were still ongoing on lot 3,[67] as there are multiple issues on this lot generated by a combination of ignoring the terrain instability identified by the feasibility study, the low quality of the construction works and the Romanian Government pressuring for electoral reasons for the segment to open before a number of critical road elements were completed.

[72] Following this, during August 2015 the general manager of CNADNR has given a number of interviews during various TV shows defending the company and putting all the blame for the issues on lot 3 on the poor quality of execution of Impregilo.

[39][73] Regardless of the statements from both parties, the problems on lot 3 are serious enough so that they required CNADNR to close down the traffic on the affected lanes during August 2015, while having both the company's experts and Impregilo's ones looking for the technical solutions to address the issues.

[76][77] Six months after the closing, come the spring of 2016, the CNADNR decided to fix the problems itself with its own workforce and rented equipment; part of the financing of these repairs was to come from the 90 million lei guarantee posted for the project by Impregilo, which was to be blacklisted for two years in which it would not be allowed to obtain contracts from the Romanian government.

Bids for the construction works for this section were launched by CNADNR during 2006[80] and subsequently during September 2009,[81] but they were both cancelled due to problems related to the selection criteria.

[90] The Șanovița – Dumbrava segment (27.4 km) was awarded to a joint venture composed of Italian companies Tirrena Scavi, Societa Italiana per Condotte D'Acqua and Cossi Construzioni in May 2011, after an appeal from one of the bid participants.

[93] Another option discussed, considering that Timișoara – Lugoj lot 2 was awarded to the same joint venture of companies was a partial opening from Șanovița to Topolovățu Mare interchange with DJ572 (6.02 km),[94] but this was not pursued either.

[100] Constructions works for lots 2, 3 and 4 were planned to finish in May 2016, however the lots face multiple issues: a revision of the environmental study imposed a number of changes to structures among which the requirement for a number of ecoducts for protecting the large carnivore fauna in the area,[101] which called for an additional bid to cover for the changes; on lot 4 an illegal cemetery was discovered on the path of the motorway and was relocated, the motorway route was passing by too close to a cave near Brănișca which was supposedly housing a significant bat population protected by law and there were discussions between Spedition UMB and CNADNR regarding a potential change of the technical solution in the area of the Mintia ash and clay deposit.

[124][125] A tender for the remaining works on the second segment was announced in June 2014,[126] and the section was finally awarded to the same joint venture of Astaldi and Max Bögl.