After 1277 days of construction, Pelješac Bridge, Croatia’s most ambitious infrastructural project since the completion of the A1 motorway, has officially been completed, according to Hrvatske ceste, the state-owned company in charge of managing state roads in Croatia.
The construction of Pelješac Bridge, which first started on July 30 2018, has been hailed as a great success for the country as it will finally offer travellers, both local and international, direct access to the southern exclave of Dubrovnik region, thus bypassing Bosnia and Herzegovina’s short coastal strip at Neum. The completion of Pelješac Bridge means that travellers to Dubrovnik and the surrounding region will no longer have to pass through border crossings with Bosnia and Herzegovina at Neum which will reduce travel time and congestion in the summer months.
The new bridge won’t immediately be accessible to road traffic, as access roads leading to the bridge are still under construction. The bridge and the portion of access roads are expected to be opened for vehicle traffic in June 2022. According to Hrvatske ceste, the access road from Croatian mainland to Pelješac Bridge is almost fully completed, while the Pelješac section of the access roads is still behind. The latter is expected to open in two phases, with the first phase being the connection between Pelješac Bridge and the Prapratno junction which is expected in June 2022 and which will see the bridge first put up to use. By the end of the year 2022, however, the Ston Bypass should be completed which will mark the completion of the Pelješac Bridge and access roads project.
The establishment of a direct road connection between mainland Croatia and the exclave of Dubrovnik over Pelješac peninsula is expected to be the final stepping stone necessary for the acceptance of the Republic of Croatia into the European Schengen Area. The final decision on the matter is expected to be resolved by the European Union in 2022.