(ANSAmed) – ZAGREB, JULY 25 – The Pelješac bridge (Pelješac in Italian) opens to traffic tomorrow in southern Dalmatia, the largest infrastructure project built in Croatia in the last decade, 80% of which is financed by European funds .
The bridge, 2,404 meters long, will connect the Dalmatian coast with the Pelješac peninsula, and in this way will connect Dubrovnik, the pearl of the Croatian Adriatic, to the national motorway network, avoiding passing through the small stretch of Bosnian territory in Neum. The inauguration ceremony will be held tomorrow evening in the presence of all the top political officials of the country.
The ideas and plans for the realization of this project have existed for at least twenty years, but the various attempts to start the works have often been stopped due to the very high costs. It was only after Croatia’s accession to the European Union nine years ago that it was possible to think about accelerating projects thanks to the support of EU funds. The bridge should be part of the Adriatic-Ionian motorway which, starting from Trieste, will cross the entire coast of the eastern Adriatic to reach Greece. Furthermore, it will no longer be necessary to cross Bosnian territory and cross two state borders within about eight kilometers, a circumstance that in the past, especially in the height of the tourist season, was a traffic jam. A situation that would have worsened with the entry of Croatia into the Schengen area, most likely next January 1st, due to the obligation of stringent checks at the entry borders in the common European area.
The bridge also has a great national symbolic value as it territorially unites the country and in fact the Dubrovnik region ceases to be an enclave.
The value of the entire investment is around 400 million euros and was made by the Chinese state company China Road and Bridge Corporation (Crbc). (ANSAmed).
Source: Ansa
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