As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the would-be Jarun bridge would solve some traffic issues here in the capital by connecting western Zagreb with Novi Zagreb, but it seems as if things are stalling beyond the point of no return.
“I think that the first point we need to start with is strengthening the city’s existing bridges before building any sort of new bridge, and this is something that may not be seen as desirable politically as much as a totally new bridge might be, but I’ll still sleep peacefully because I know that I’ve done absolutely everything necessary for this city to be safer if there’s another earthquake,” said Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomasevic.
This is nothing more than a very small consolation for Milica Sparavalo, whose house was damaged back during the earthquake of March 2020, and she’s not allowed to rebuild any of it because it is located on the future road route that would one day lead to this as yet somewhat mythical Jarun bridge. Because of all this, her life has been turned into total chaos, and she isn’t even allowed to sell the land, as reported by HRT.
“For us, waiting no longer makes sense. Just let us be able to dispose of our property,” pleaded Milica Sparavalo, whose house is just one of the 150 buildings situated along the route awaiting demolition. Experts say that the Jarun bridge is a classic example of the violation of various laws that ultimately put the City of Zagreb into a deeply unfavourable situation.
“Construction permits were issued for corridors that were defined by the GUP and some other documents, and there lies the problem. The problem is that the state has legalised some things, and some things only,” said Marko Sevrovic from the Faculty of Transport Sciences in Zagreb.
The potential Jarun bridge would, as stated above, finally connect the western part of the city and Novi Zagreb, and 15,000 vehicles would travel along it daily, and a tram line is also planned. The continuation of the Jarun bridge project was also supported by part of the opposition, and they even proposed an amendment to break the deadlock.
“With that amendment, we provided two million euros for the creation of the project documentation, it was flatly rejected, that is, not reduced, but totally and utterly rejected, and it could clearly already be seen that this project wasn’t a focal point for them,” said Kristijan Jelic, a city representative of HSLS.
For more, check out our news section.
