Data from Croatian Roads show that the bridge significantly reduced the pressure on the Klek and Zaton Doli border crossings, where traffic fell by about 70 percent compared to 2019.
The Pelješki Bridge, opened exactly one year ago, has fulfilled its goals and expectations, according to data which says that by July 25, 2,305,537 vehicles passed through it.
According to data from Croatian Roads, during the peak tourist season, an average of 13,880 vehicles cross the bridge per day, writes Hina.
In the previous part of the year, 984,596 vehicles have crossed the bridge. The highest number of vehicles since being put into circulation was on Saturday, July 30 last year, 19,029.
“For comparison with the record year 2019, before the start of the epidemic, at the meters installed at the border crossing with Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the summer months, the average daily traffic was 11,046 vehicles,” say Croatian Roads.
They add that the highest traffic load is on weekends. So, for example, on Saturday, July 15 this year, 15,473 vehicles traveled on the bridge.
Data from Croatian Roads show that the bridge significantly reduced the pressure on the Klek and Zaton Doli border crossings, where traffic fell by about 70 percent compared to 2019.
The bridge is founded on 100 meter long steel pipes
The Pelješki bridge was built as part of the “Road connection with southern Dalmatia” project, which includes the construction of a bridge with access roads.
The construction project of the Pelješko bridge with access roads, according to the Croatian Government, is worth 525 million euros, of which 357 million euros are grants from the European Union funds. The bridge was designed by the Slovenian Marjan Pippenbacher, writes Anadolija.
The idea of building a bridge dates back to the end of the 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s, when it became part of the spatial plan of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County. Work on it was “officially” opened several times, so that in 2015, two years after Croatia’s accession to the European Union, the country would receive 330 million euros or 85 percent of the funds for the construction of the bridge from European funds.
The suspension bridge, the construction of which was entrusted to the company “China Road and Bridge Corporation” under a construction contract signed in April 2018, has six main pillars and thirteen steel spans with a length of 72 to 285 meters. Its height is 55 meters, which, according to the Croatian authorities, met the request of neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina to ensure the smooth passage of ships through the Maloston Channel to Neum.
The depth of the sea under the bridge is an almost constant 27 meters, and due to the soil consisting of thick deposits of clay and silt, the entire bridge is founded on a hundred meters long steel pipes with a diameter of two meters driven into the seabed.
Along with the construction of the bridge, access roads were also built, and everything was completed on April 19 this year, when the Ston bypass, i.e. the section Prapratno – Doli, was put into traffic, which was also the last phase of the project Road connection with southern Dalmatia, which made the project and officially completed.
Source : AL JAZEERA
