“The construction of the bridge is a sovereignist move to connect the Croatian territory,” the premier said at the cabinet meeting.
The entire project, including access roads, cost €525 million, of which €357 million was secured as a grant from the European Union.
The official name of the bridge is Pelješki Most in Croatian or Pelješac Bridge in English.
The 2,140-metre-long bridge spans the strait between the village of Komarna on the mainland and the village of Brijesta on the Pelješac peninsula.
The bridge will provide a direct road link between the southernmost part of Croatia and the rest of the country, which is currently cut off at Neum where Bosnia and Herzegovina has access to the Adriatic Sea.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said today that the bridge marked significant headway in Croatian infrastructure development and an important step in ensuring road connectivity while providing a fresh impetus to the development of Dubrovnik-Neretva County.
The bridge has been built by the China Bridge and Road Corporation.
The contract was signed on 23 April 2018 between the HC road operator and the China Road and Bridge Corporation. Work on the bridge officially started on 31 July 2018.
A 74-metre long test pile was hammered in the seabed on 10 January 2019, and the bridge was fully joined together at a ceremony on 29 July last year.
The 2,440-metre bridge has 13 spans, of which five central spans are each 285 metres long, six 33-metre-high centrally installed pylons made of reinforced concrete, and two lanes, plus a hard shoulder for bridge maintenance.
The navigation profile under the bridge is 200 by 55 metres.
The bridge was designed by Marjan Pipenbaher.
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