Belgrade City Road Bypass[1] (Serbian: Обилазница око Београда, Obilaznica oko Beograda) or simply Belgrade Bypass is a beltway, currently under construction, around the city of Belgrade, the capital city of Serbia.
It is one of Serbia's most important infrastructural projects, financed from the National Investment Plan with the financial backing of European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and European Investment Bank[2]. Its construction is expected to alleviate Belgrade's congestion problems, and remove all transit traffic from the city center, unloading the critical Gazela and Pančevo bridges. The total length of the bypass will be 69 kilometers.
The bypass was planned by the Belgrade's general urbanistic plan, and its parts have been sporadically built for 17 years. However, the works intensified around the end of 2005.[3] The total investment is estimated at euro 543 million, with around € 370 million remaining. Of those, 55 million come from the EBRD, 180 from the EIB, and the remainder from the National Investment Plan.[3]
The works are carried out by the Public Utility "Roads of Serbia", with Mostogradnja, Energoprojekt niskogradnja, and Planum as subcontractors. However, the payments to the contractors have been spotty, and the City of Belgrade had to participate in the financing as well, in order to pay at least a part of the debt.[4]
As of Spring 2011, all sections of the bypass are under heavy construction, with hundreds of trucks and other utility vehicles being used simultaneously. The Government of Serbia and the City of Belgrade have made this the top priority work.
The bypass will consist of three principal sections:
Section B from Dobanovci to Orlovača was finished and opened for traffic in October 2008. The rest of section B is currently under construction, and opening is expected in May 2012[6]. Section B, spanning the hilly terrain, will include 4 tunnels and 40 viaducts, nine of them over 400 m high.[4] In the final stage, it will also require enhancement of the existing Ostružnica bridge to accommodate the planned dual carriageway.[5]
Section C is technically the most complex, as its construction involves building a 1,190 m bridge over Danube, and additional 11 viaducts and 2 tunnels. Its exact route is not decided yet, and the completion is scheduled by 2017.[5]
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