The northern section (Hungarian border – Subotica – Novi Sad – Belgrade) is 172 km long and was built between 1971 and 2013.

The left carriageway between Batajnica and Beška was completed in 2004, and at this stage there was 32.2 km of a full-profile motorway.

The next two sections were Novi Sad – Sirig and Žednik – Bikovo, both of them 10 km long; they opened in 2009.

In 2011 most of the motorway was upgraded to full-profile, with the completion of the 93 km sections Bikovo – Horgoš (border with Hungary), Sirig – Žednik and the twin Beška bridge.

Finally, the remaining 2.5 km of the Novi Sad bypass were completed, which marked the end of construction of the northern section of the A1 motorway.

The motorway enters Serbia in Bačka and passes by Subotica, Bačka Topola, Vrbas, Novi Sad, crosses the Danube and enters Srem, passes by Inđija and Stara Pazova and arrives to Batajnica, a suburb of Belgrade, where the Belgrade bypass begins.

In the Novi Sad area, the motorway features local-express lanes, in order to avoid congestion in both directions.

Part from tunnel "Straževica" to Bubanj Potok interchange (sector 6) is 9.6 km long.

Motorway was simultaneously constructed from Belgrade and from Niš, so in 1980 21.2 kilometres between Pojate and Deligrad were opened.