Its construction began on the 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. The first section between Zagreb and Belgrade was built with the effort of the Yugoslav People's Army and volunteer Youth Work Actions and was opened in 1950. The section between Ljubljana and Zagreb was built by 54,000 volunteers within eight months in 1958. The southern section from Belgrade was not completed until the mid-1960s.