Further construction of the motorway was suspended by the onset of the Croatian War of Independence. In October 1991, a part of the motorway between Novska and Nova Gradiška became inaccessible to the government of the Republic of Croatia due to military occupation of the area by the forces of the so-called SAO Western Slavonia. Consequently, the Novska–Nova Gradiška section was closed to all traffic. On December 21, 1994, negotiations led to the reopening of that section for transit traffic. However, the section remained unsafe for use as intermittent violence continued until May 1995, when the area was overrun by the Croatian army. Inspection of the motorway section carried out at the time revealed damage to a viaduct carrying the motorway over the Zagreb–Sisak–Vinkovci railroad and a local road near Novska. Besides the overall lack of maintenance during the period, the pavement and a number of flyovers were damaged by artillery bombardments, and the flyover approach embankments were damaged where trenches were dug.