As reported by Poslovni, the ministry points out that for the project of connecting the island of Pašman to the mainland, a feasibility study with a cost-benefit analysis was prepared in 2021 for the project “Bridge to mainland – island of Pašman with access roads to the bridge.” Based on the demand analysis of the traffic model, the main goal of the study was to select the best option for connecting the island of Pašman and the mainland.
According to the ministry, the study evaluated building a beam bridge as the best option, consisting of two parts, the first of which would go from Pašman to the islet of Ričul, and from Ričul to the mainland. The estimated value of the project is almost HRK 452 million.
On the mainland side, the bridge should be connected by state road D8 with the future bypass Zadar – Pakoštane, and the route exits to the very bank of the Pašman channel at the position of cape Tukljača.
From the mainland, the planned route goes to the islet of Ričul, about 400 meters from the coast, and continues towards Pašman, crossing the Pašman channel in a length of about 1400 meters. On the island of Pašman, the route continues, via the junction, to the state road D110, thus connecting the bridge with the main road of the islands of Pašman and Ugljan. The bridge’s total length would be 2203 and a half meters, and the construction, according to the projections, would last about three years.
The recently opened Pelješac Bridge is slightly more than 2,400 meters long. The project’s total value is estimated at 420 million euros, including the construction of the bridge, access roads, and the Ston bypass.
“The fact is that Zadar County has included the mentioned project in the spatial plan as one of the priorities and that the preparation of the documentation has started; however, we would like to note that the mentioned pre-feasibility study needs to be elaborated in more detail, especially concerning the preparation of technical documentation, i.e., more detailed elaboration of investment and operational costs,” said the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure. They also point out that the future source of financing should be determined for the chosen option, given that it is not eligible for co-financing from EU funds, so in this context, they cannot say anything more at the moment.
By the way, the Pašman – mainland bridge, for which the Municipality of Pašman received the support of the Ministry of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure, is one of the most important projects for the island of Pašman, but also for Ugljan, which is connected to Pašman by a smaller bridge. The Ministry of Transport financed the pre-feasibility study with HRK 700,000, prepared by the international company Ernst & Young Consulting.
Interestingly, representatives of the Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation, which built the Pelješki bridge within the given deadline, once visited the municipality of Pašman to learn about the possibilities of building a bridge that would connect Pašman to the mainland. The representatives of the Chinese company said then that the bridge could be completed relatively quickly with a professional and thoughtful project. It is also not unimportant that the rocky bottom and suitable depth of about 13 meters on average would make this bridge much cheaper than the Pelješac one.
If it is built, the bridge could stop the depopulation of the two islands, and the price of land would increase, but some residents fear that the scenario of the rebuilt Vir could happen, where the bridge did not bring much good in terms of tourism.
The municipality of Pašman has embarked on a project to build the Pašman – mainland bridge, which for all islanders means an increase in the quality of life through a better connection with the mainland and a significant positive impact on the economy of the entire municipality, said the former mayor of the municipality of Pašman, Krešimir Ćosić, who believes that this project will be successful. For the municipality of Pašman, it is a strategic project, the realisation of which would provide even better opportunities for residents to stay in their hometowns. Ćosić recently said that only the islands connected to the mainland have an increase in population and that the construction of a permanent link would lead to new employment and lower living costs on the island.
Therefore, the Pašman bridge would connect the island of Ugljan with the mainland since Ugljan and Pašman, which together have about 8,000 residents, are already connected by the mentioned bridge in Ždrelac. There is even a detailed bridge construction project, and complete technical documentation made twenty years ago at the Faculty of Civil Engineering in Zagreb.
The mayor of the municipality of Kukljica, one of the most developed tourist towns in Ugljan, Marin Boško, points out that in his town, there are more people in favour of the construction of the bridge than against it. “There are more pros for that construction than cons,” said Boško for Hina. He points out that the prices of land and real estate would rise, and depopulation would probably stop in the long term.
As the main problem of the eventual construction of the Pašman Bridge, he points out the infrastructure that would not be able to handle significantly more tourists on the islands. “Infrastructure would have to be strengthened on both islands – both on Pašman and Ugljan, and by that, I mean water infrastructure, sewage, better access roads,” said Boško, adding that the Pašman bridge would bring a lot of good, not only to tourism, which the bridge would further develop. “If we had a bridge, we could reach the mainland at any time, emergencies would not depend on ferries, and more people from the island could work on the mainland and travel more easily every day,” concluded Boško.
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