The Peljesac Bridge, in the south of Dalmatia, Croatia, opens to traffic today. It is the largest infrastructure project built in the country in the last decade, 80 % of which was funded by European funds. The bridge is 2,404 meters long, and will connect the Dalmatian coastline with the Peljesac peninsula. This will allow the city of Dubrovnik — the crown jewel of the Croatian Adriatic coast — to connect to the national highway network, hence bypassing the need to go through Bosnian territory in the municipality of Neum.
The inauguration ceremony will be held this evening in the presence of the country’s highest political representatives. The plan and idea for the realization of this project existed for over twenty years, however the attempts to start the work had to be halted on numerous occasions due to the lack of funds. Only following Croatia’s joining of the European Union, nine years ago, did it become possible to accelerate the procedure thanks to the support of EU funding.
The bridge should be part of the Adriatic-Ionian highway which, starting in the Italian city of Trieste, will go through the eastern coast of the Adriatic sea, all the way to Greece. Furthermore, it will no longer be necessary to go through Bosnian territory, crossing within the span of eight kilometers two country borders, something which used to create long lines of traffic, particularly during high tourist season — a situation which was going to become even worse following Croatia’s entering the Schengen area (most likely on January 1 2023), due to the strict controls at the borders of the common European area.
The bridge also carries national symbolic value because it connects the country, and therefore the region of Dubrovnik ceases to be an enclave. The total investment value is of 400 million EUR, the work was realized by Chinese national company, Road and Bridge Corporation (Crbc)
