| Pelješac Bridge | |
|---|---|
| Carries | 4-lane wide expressway |
| Crosses | Neretva channel / Bay of Mali Ston |
| Locale | South-east Croatia |
| Design | Cable-stayed bridge |
| Total length | 2,404 metres (7,887 ft) |
| Width | 21 metres (69 ft) |
| Longest span | 568 metres (1,864 ft) |
| Clearance below | 55 metres (180 ft) |
| Opened | 2015 |
The Pelješac Bridge (Croatian: Pelješki most) is a bridge intended to connect the Croatian peninsula of Pelješac with the Croatian mainland, spanning the Adriatic Sea, which separates the two near the Bay of Mali Ston and the Neretva Channel.
Because the Croatian mainland is intersected by a small strip of the coast around the town of Neum which is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina (forming Bosnia and Herzegovina's only outlet to the sea), the bridge would also physically connect the southernmost part of Dalmatia with the rest of Croatia.
The bridge is currently in early construction phases, and it is also a contentious political issue.
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The Pelješac Bridge will be a 2,404-meter (7,887 ft) long, 55-meter (180 ft) high beam and cable-stayed bridge, with a main span of 568 metres (1,864 ft). It will be 21 metres (69 ft) wide, enough to accommodate 4 lanes of traffic. This span will be the second largest in Europe. The two pylons will be 115 metres (377 ft) above the road deck, 170 metres (560 ft) above sea level, and 240 metres (790 ft) above the seabed. The beam part of the bridge will be composed of 14 smaller pylons (7 from Brijesta on Pelješac side and 7 from Komarna on Croatian mainland side), each built at 180 metres (590 ft) apart, with a span of 180 meters. The whole bridge will be the 18th longest in Europe.
Beside the construction of the bridge, access roads at the both sides of the bridge are in construction, including 2 tunnels on Pelješac (one 2,170 metres (7,120 ft) and other 450 metres (1,480 ft) long) as well as two smaller bridges on Pelješac, (one 500 metres (1,600 ft) and another 50 metres (160 ft) long).
It has not yet been announced whether the bridge will form a part of the A1 highway, currently connecting Zagreb and Vrgorac. Currently, the road from Ploče via the bridge towards Dubrovnik is planned to be a 4 lane highway. However, the road from Dubrovnik to Debeli Brijeg (border crossing with Montenegro) is not strictly defined yet.
Croatian minister of infrastructure Božidar Kalmeta said in May 2007 that preparations for the construction of the bridge were going according to plan, and that an initial tender was under preparation. Kalmeta added that the question of when the construction works will begin depends on whether a constructor would be selected in the first round.[1]
On June 11, 2007, Hrvatske ceste announced a public auction for the construction of the bridge. On August 28, the list of bidders was released:
Kalmeta confirmed construction works were to start in Autumn 2007. The contractor is obliged to complete the project in four years. Construction costs were estimated at HRK 1.9 billion, nearly 260 million euros.[2] Kalmeta's late August estimate about the building cost of "under 300 million euros" proved to be accurate.
The construction will be financed by Hrvatske ceste and by loans by European investment banks.[2]
On September 14, 2007, the Ministry of Construction announced that the Konstruktor/Viadukt/Hidroelektra consortium won the contest and that they will sign a contract for 1,945,388,829.86 kuna, or roughly 265 million euros at the time.
Construction works on the Peljesac project commenced in November 2005. Construction works on the northern and southern termini commenced on October 24, 2007,[3] with sea works starting in the autumn of 2008.
In July 2009, the Croatian Government under Jadranka Kosor announced that, as part of the effort to reduce expenses during the economic crisis, the construction of the Pelješac Bridge was to proceed under a much slower timetable than originally planned. In November 2009 Kalmeta mentioned 2015 as the year of completion. The 2010 budget and roadbuilding programme indicate that by the end of 2012, only 433.5 million kuna or 60 million euros will be invested in the bridge, which is less than a quarter of the total.[4]
The idea that a large bridge should connect Pelješac with the mainland has caused concern among the ecological activists in Croatia, who opposed it because a potential damage to the sea life in the bay of Mali Ston, as well as the mariculture.[5] These risks and concerns were explicitly addressed by the constructors in the preliminary studies.[6]
The idea is also opposed for various economic reasons - whether such a bridge is really necessary as opposed to making a different deal with Bosnia and Herzegovina,[7] whether it is too expensive if built according to ecological demands, or whether it is best replaced with an undersea tunnel.[8] Recently more media coverage was given to idea of construction of an immersed tube instead as a more cost-effective design not impeding access to Neum.[9][10] Bosnia and Herzegovina has already agreed to grant Croatia unobstructed passage through Neum.[11]
The construction of the bridge has also been opposed by the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as it would complicate Bosnia-Herzegovina’s access to international waters.[12] They opposed the building of the bridge, originally planned to be only 35 meters high, because it would have made it impossible for large ships to enter Neum. Although the harbour of Neum currently cannot be used for commercial traffic, the Bosnian government declared that in the future a new harbour might be built, and that the construction of the bridge would harm this ambition.
Former prime minister Ivo Sanader persisted with the bridge idea, and changed the design to reflect the concerns of BiH to the current plans. The two sides agreed on the construction of the bridge in early December 2006.[13] In June 2007, after the tender was published, the media reported renewed opposition from the Bosnia and Herzegovina State Border Commission. Bosnia and Herzegovina stated they will sue Croatia, if the bridge is really built unilaterally.[14]
