 In the 1970s, Hungary started construction of the M7 as its first motorway, and Zagreb–Karlovac section of the A1 motorway was completed in Croatia (within Yugoslavia at the time), representing the first sections of the present-day E71 to become a modern road traffic route, and the first modern motorways in Hungary and Croatia respectively.Subsequently, the two motorways, as well as other along the route in Croatia and Hungary, were gradually extended towards national borders, as well as to bypass capitals of the two nations—Budapest and Zagreb.Croatian and Hungarian motorways spanning the E71 route linked up in 2008.