It connects Prague through Ústí nad Labem with the German border at Petrovice and the Bundesautobahn 17 at Bad Gottleuba, leading to Dresden.

[1] On 30 April 1942, a ban was issued on the construction of motorways throughout the Greater German Reich, which included the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, due to the transfer of labour to war production.

The first sections of the highway running 45 km (28 mi) from the Prague Ring to the Lovosice junction were opened between 1990 and 2000; the northwestern segment leading 23 km (14 mi) from Ústí nad Labem to the German border was completed on 21 December 2006,[2] including the longest tunnel in the Czech Republic, the 2,058 m (6,752 ft) long Panenská tunnel.

Works on remaining 16 km (9.9 mi) long segment between Řehlovice and Lovosice were delayed for several years due to numerous protests and appeals by the Děti Země environmental movement against the route taken through the České Středohoří mountain range, a protected landscape area and nature reserve.

[4] Construction work nevertheless continued and the last part of highway was opened in December 2016 albeit with traffic restrictions between Lovosice and Řehlovice.