January 27, 2022 - After 1277 days, the construction works on Pelješac bridge were completed yesterday, and now the technical inspection follows.

Jutarnji List reports that the technical inspection of the bridge began today, which should be completed by 31 January. Although the formal completion of the works is calculated after the completion of the technical inspection, because during the inspection some shortcomings can be identified that need to be further corrected, today it is possible to say that the construction works on Pelješac bridge have been completed.

The Chinese company CRBC started the construction of the Peljesac bridge on July 30, 2018. On that day, the President of the Croatian Roads Administration, Josip Škorić, handed over all the documentation to the CRBC representatives in Ston, a diary of works was opened and a report on the introduction of the Chinese contractor was signed. The deadline for completion of works was 36 months and 29 days. Although the technical inspection is included in that deadline, it can be said that the construction of the bridge took 52 days longer than planned.

But when you take into account that the works stopped for several months due to the coronavirus epidemic, it can be said that the bridge was completed before the set deadline. After the successful completion of the technical inspection, the procedure for obtaining all necessary permits for the bridge will follow.

At this moment, the works on the bridge have been completed and the connecting road leading from the Adriatic Highway to the bridge will be completed soon.

According to the latest official announcements from Hrvatske ceste, the connecting road from the Adriatic Highway to the bridge, and the new Pelješac road from the bridge to the Prapratno junction will be opened to traffic in the summer. The rest of the road, from the Ston bypass to Doli, should be completed by the end of this year at the latest.

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ZAGREB, 10 Jan 2022 - The works on Pelješac Bridge will wrap up by the end of the month and the access roads are coming along too, so this tourist season it will be possible to drive across the bridge, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Monday while visiting the site in southern Croatia.

There is ten more days' work on the bridge and a peak traffic test is planned for the end of the month, to be followed by technical checks, he added.

"As announced, the construction of Pelješac Bridge will be near completion by the end of January 2022."

He said the construction of access roads by Austria's Strabag and Greece's Avax was "coming along" and that they were expected to "be near completion in May and June," while the completion of a road near Ston "should follow in early autumn."

"That's what's good at the moment, but this means that it will be possible to drive across Pelješac Bridge this tourist season, which means without crossing borders and the congestion in Neum," Plenković said, adding that thereby Croatia was becoming "a propulsive auto destination, which is extremely important in 2022."

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October the 28th, 2021 - Yet another Peljesac bridge construction site has popped up as the final completion of this massive strategic project draws ever closer and the final touches are dealt with.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after what seems like an eternity of talking and then constructing, the works on Peljesac bridge have entered their final phase. Another very important Peljesac bridge construction site has now popped up and been opened next to the bridge itself - the sewage system from Komarna to Duboka.

''We've done 350 metres of the canal and now we're waiting for the entrance to the construction site next to the bridge itself. From there, we're left to connect across the road and descend towards Duboka,'' Ante Jukic, the construction site manager, told HRT.

''I must point out that we've received a valid permit for the use of this section to Duboka, and all of the preparations are underway to connect it all, ie, to connect those facilities that gravitate along the main pipeline,'' said Smiljan Mustapic, the mayor of nearby Slivno.

The connection of the facility to the system in Klek, Duboka and Komarna should start functioning in March next year, because a secondary network has already been built in the streets located directly by the shoreline.

''We've now got until next summer to solve this problem of our bay and then to continue with further development,'' emphasised Stipan Parmac from Duboka.

''We know that every day there are bigger and bigger capacities in the place itself. There's an increasing influx of tourists and I must say that it is to be commended,'' said Mate Dragobratic from Komarna.

Slovenian tourists, including the mayor of Ljutomer, have also been coming to see Peljesac bridge construction site as works have progressed. The bridge thus provoked a spontaneous meeting between the two municipal leaders.

''It's a good bridge because it was designed by a man from Slovenia. Bravo Croatia for building it,'' said Olga Karba, the mayor of Ljutomer, Slovenia.

''We've exchanged numbers and I hope there might even be a possibility of twinning,'' added Smiljan Mustapic, the mayor of Slivno, in response to the Slovenian mayor's comments on Croatia's largest strategic project which will finally unite the extreme south of Dalmatia with the rest of the country's territory.

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October the 25th, 2021 - There is a lot of talk circulating about the long awaited opening of Peljesac bridge which is, along with its access roads, finally nearing total completion. In order to put it into function, however, one very important factor needs to be satisfied.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, although Peljesac bridge already looks like it is ready for the first cars to drive across it, the final part of the work is still in full swing, and asphalting is what began first.

''Then comes the installation of all of the fences, the installation of internal drainage, the inspection of it all, so, all of that is part of the finalisation stage of the bridge,'' explained Jaroslav Segedin from Hrvatske ceste (Croatian roads) for HRT.

Day by day, Peljesac bridge, Croatia's most important strategic project which unites its territory, is getting closer to completion. The Chinese contractor is slowly finishing its work, and now the emphasis is being placed on the access roads for the bridge. The works should be completed by the beginning of summer 2022.

Representatives of the Austrian company Strabag are working on both sides of Peljesac bridge, on a section 10.5 which is kilometres long. Two bridges, two tunnels, and the terrain is very demanding, but the deadlines have all been met so far.

''We're within [the timeline of] our plans, so it's all going well, as we planned with smaller or larger deviations that don't affect so much of the structure. We've been contracted until mid-July next year,'' said Mladen Marjanovic, the project manager for Strabag.

The total section across Peljesac bridge is thirty kilometres long.

''The current dynamics predict that the works on the Prapratno junction would be completed by June 2022. In that way, the proper conditions would be created for traffic to be allowed to run along the 24-kilometre-long section,'' Segedin said.

The last section, the Ston bypass, should be completed by the end of next year.

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October the 18th, 2021 - With the construction of Peljesac bridge finally drawing to a close and with access roads being hurried along, questions about Croatia's most important strategic project which has united its territory have arisen. Can the bridge cope with strong bura or will it need to be closed? What if an earthquake strikes or if a large vessel runs into one of its pillars? An expert provided answers.

As Morski writes, Peljesac bridge with its elegant 2404 metres has surrounded Mali Ston Bay and finally connected Croatian territory. It blends harmoniously into the Dalmatian landscape, but also into a landscape that is not completely safe, either. The bridge is located in an area known for its very frequent seismic activity, where bura and other coastal winds are common and strong. Might a stronger earthquake bring it down, how many gusts of jugo or bura can it withstand, what if a ship crashes into it, and how will its load-bearing capacity and stability be monitored over the years to come?

The answers to these pressing questions came from Croatian roads/Hrvatske ceste, that is, directly from Goran Legac, the engineer who is leading the historic project of the road connection of southern Dalmatia with the rest of the country, as reported by tportal.

His job is to prepare the project, organise, control and supervise all of the participants and their activities and ensure that everything being done is in line with the set plans in terms of deadlines and finances. Simply put, he and his team of experts from various professions, along with the help of numerous surveillance services, are the ones ''hanging'' over the heads of the Chinese workers who are building Peljesac Bridge, the Greeks (Avax) and the Austrians (Strabag) whose task is to build all of the accompanying access roads.

''For the quality delivery of the construction work itself, the most important thing is announcing and controlling all of the technical specifications through project documentation that must be completed by the contractor. Conditionally speaking, we perform the project with the same goal, but often with a different approach. The contractor strives to optimise the project in order to earn as much as possible while achieving the required quality. The designer, on the other hand, deals with all the highest standards and norms in order to make the construction as durable as possible. And that's in the interest of the client, in this case Hrvatske ceste, because of the maintenance costs involved,'' explained Legac.

In the case of Peljesac bridge, maintenance costs will be of course by very high. In theory, these costs are calculated by dividing the value of the structure by the expected period of use.

''It's common to expect that in the projected life of a construction, let's say we're talking about a 100-or-so-year period, the construction and equipment of the bridge through regular and extraordinary maintenance will be completely repaired and then replaced. So if the construction cost two billion kuna, then at least that much more will be spent in 100 years on maintenance alone. Of course, these costs will be lower in the beginning, and will increase later in accordance with the contractor's guarantees,'' stated Legac.

What exactly has been done to make sure Peljesac bridge will withstand those 100 years, and hopefully much longer, without shortening its ''shelf life'' due to some of the natural disasters such as earthquakes or strong winds Croatia is no stranger to?

Several tectonic faultlines are located very close to the bridge...

Southern Croatia is one of the most seismic areas in the entire country. According to seismologists, the maximum intensity of earthquakes that can hit Dalmatia ranges from 6.3 to 7 degrees on the Richter scale. The fact that there are several faultlines very near to Peljesac bridge isn't particularly encouraging in this case, which is evident by looking at the scientific database of all European seismic faults.

Legac confirmed all this, but also pointed out that there is no room for fear.

''It's true that the bridge is located in a zone which has very high levels of seismic activity, with a design ground acceleration at the foundation level of 0.34 g, which is extremely strong. However, the structure is designed and constructed to withstand what earthquakes can cause without collapsing. The level of usability ensures sufficient rigidity so that the bridge can be used even after an earthquake strikes. So, Peljesac bridge can withstand even the strongest earthquakes that can be reasonably expected to strike the area,'' assured Legac.

He added huge steel pipes with a diameters of 1.8 metres and two metres, were used to base the pillars in the sea itself. Their length ranges from 36 to 130.9 metres. For comparison, the height of the Zagreb Cathedral is 108 metres. These pipes were driven down firmly into the seabed, with the 130.9-metre one being the world record holder because it is the largest ever to be driven down into one piece, as pipes of these lengths are usually put in in extensions.

In addition to being located in a highly seismic area, the location of Peljesac bridge is known for some extremely strong Dalmatian winds. Will we have the same situation as we unfortunately did with the Maslenica bridge, which closes to traffic when bura or jugo blows?

Legac assured that this will not be the case. Namely, during the design and construction, the problem of local winds was taken into account and the construction of the bridge was tested in an air tunnel, writes tportal.

''The analysis predicts wind gusts of as much as 180 kilometres per hour. From my experience, because I've lived near the bridge for about three and a half years now, in Mali Ston Bay the jugo is much more intense than the bura wind is. Along the entire length of the bridge on both sides there will be windbreaks 3.2 which are metres high. You can see similar windbreaks on the Baricevic viaduct on the highway near Sv. Rok. They are a guarantee that the traffic will run smoothly in almost all weather conditions up to a wind speed of 180 kilometres per hour,'' Legac pointed out, adding that there are windbreaks on the construction site and they are waiting for installation as well.

The pillars of Peljesac bridge can withstand the impact of a ship of 10 thousand tonnes.

In addition to natural issues such as earthquakes and wind, the design of the bridge had to take into account its navigation profile, which was insisted on by neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina, and some Bosnian politicians were known for their negative stance towards the very construction of the bridge. This guarantees extra protection for both vessels and the bridge itself. But what if a large ship crashes into one of the bridge's pillars? Can he knock it down?

''There are currently no shipping lines in this area. Nonetheless, a waterway passing through the central range is envisaged. Large ships will be able to sail under the bridge. This will prevent large ships from hitting the pillars,'' Legac said.

Even if such a situation were to occur, Peljesac bridge's strong pillars are designed to withstand the impact of a vessel, with those in the middle, between which the waterway passes, being able to fully withstand the impact of a medium-sized ship of 100 metres in length and weighing up to 10,000 tonnes.

Given the strategic importance of Peljesac bridge, the project envisages the installation of equipment for its continuous monitoring. Through it, various parameters will be monitored in real time.

''Concrete isn't eternal, as some claim it to be. You have the example of the Krk bridge, which has undergone four major reconstructions in 40 years. However, Peljesac bridge is built from concrete that has the most modern additives and is much stronger class than the concrete typically used before. Chemical technology has advanced the most in the field of construction, and all of this is a guarantee that Peljesac bridge will be able to serve us for a very long time to come,'' concluded Legac.

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September the 20th, 2021 - Works at the Peljesac bridge site, Croatia's most important stragetic project, are going at full speed as 1000 workers are busy finishing things off and dealing with the access roads.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Peljesac bridge and access road construction site is as busy as ever. More than 1,000 workers are currently employed on this largest construction site in the Republic of Croatia. More precisely, according to Hrvatske ceste (Croatian roads), Peljesac bridge and its access roads are being built by a total of 1,098 workers at this moment in time, and when technical and support staff are added, there will be a total of 1,277 people on the ground on site and in the nearby Mali Ston Bay, as reported by Vecernji list.

On the access roads themselves, (more precisely on the Duboka - Sparagovici section) work was being carried out on the wide excavation of the route all the way to the Kamenica tunnel. Between the Dumanja Jaruga bridges (I and II) and the Debeli brijeg tunnel, work is currently being done on the construction of an external drainage system, and on the Dumanja Jaruga I bridge, the construction of columns as well as the first segment of the span structure on pillar S1 has now been completed.

On the Dumanja Jaruga II bridge, two segments of the span structure were constructed with the help of a cage, and the foundation was concreted on the S1 pillar. At the Zaradeza junction, excavation works are underway for the future Zaradeza traffic control centre, where walls, horizontal and vertical circles are currently being built. In the Debeli Brijeg tunnel (1424 metres in length), which was breached back in December, works on the construction of waterproofing, reprofiling and sub-concrete are continuing. A total of 296 workers are engaged on this section of the access roads, of which 61 are technical staff.

On the Ston bypass and the Sparagovici - Papratno - Doli road section, among other things, all segments have been drawn up on the Prapratno viaduct. Works on the steel structure and AKZ are also now in progress. The excavation of the Polakovica tunnel (1242 metres) has been completed, and a wide full profile excavation is now being carried out. The Supava tunnel (1290 metres) also now breaks through on two sides (and entrance and an exit).

On the Ston bridge (485 metres), reinforced concrete works on the head of the S5 pillar have now been completed. Reinforced concrete works on the construction of the pillar of the S3 pillar are in progress. The reinforced concrete foundation of the S4 staircase has been completed and reinforced concrete works on the construction of the pillar of the S4 staircase are in progress. Works on the head of the pillar of the S2 pillar and reinforced concrete works on the abutments of the Ston U1 and U7 bridges are in progress and the second phase of the wall and wings of the U7 abutment has been completed. A total of 330 workers are engaged in various jobs on the Peljesac bridge construction site, along with 33 members of the technical and administrative staff.

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August the 3rd, 2021 - Croatian General Ante Gotovina, a hero of the Homeland War, has stepped forward with a name proposal for Peljesac bridge, which has finally and historically connected Croatian and European Union (EU) territory.

Peljesac bridge was a long time coming, and with Chinese workers hard at work constructing it day and night, the bridge has been completed, finalising an enormous strategic Croatian project which has connected the extreme south of Dalmatia with the rest of the country, eliminating the need for a border crossing into neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina (through the coastal town of Neum). 

The move has, as mentioned, also been of strategic importance to the European Union, which provided a huge percentage of money in non-refundable EU funds for the bridge's construction, as Bosnia and Herzegovina's small piece of coastline which broke up Croatian territory, remains a third country.

Potential names for the bridge, which has always been simply known as Peljesac bridge until now, have been flying around, and General Ante Gotovina has his own suggestion.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, General Ante Gotovina was asked what he would say to the Croatian people during the days of pride and glory of the celebration of Operation Storm (Oluja), General Gotovina said:

"As you can see, tradition is something we have to keep close to us. Security and freedom are a necessity every day, for those who care about it. This is found in our National Security System and within our Croatian Armed Forces. And for the rest of it - we need to work and work!

We have managed to bring a lot of strategic projects to fruition, we've met a lot of strategic goals since the end of the Homeland War. Much has been done. One of these is now the connection of the extreme south of Croatia with the rest of Croatia via the already famous Peljesac bridge. As the flag of the City of Dubrovnik says - Libertas! It would be nice to call that bridge Libertas. It represents freedom,'' Gotovina told IKA.

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July 28, 2021 - What always seemed to be an unattainable dream (even in recent years) is now a reality: the Pelješac bridge has been completed tonight and Croatia is one again.

The impossible is no longer so, and as of tonight, the Croatian territory reconnects with Dubrovnik via the Pelješac bridge, and the Neum corridor will no longer be the way to the Pearl of the Adriatic and back. Tonight at 11 pm, the last segment of the steel span structure of the Pelješac Bridge will be installed, which will connect the mainland from Komarna with Brijesta on the Pelješac peninsula. Although the vehicles will not cross the new bridge until June next year, tonight's connection of its construction will be one of the most important dates in the calendar of this, as the Minister of the Sea, Transport and Infrastructure Oleg Butković called it: ''the project of all projects''.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and several of his ministers, present at a celebratory event. (Video: Index.hr)

The project started on several occasions, but for various reasons, it stalled until a contract worth half a billion euros was signed in April 2018, of which the European Union gave as much as 85 percent. The contract entrusts the construction to the Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), one of the globally largest and most experienced in such works. It was also the first such project of a Chinese company in the European Union.

Dubrovnik Mayor Mato Frankovic shared an emotional post on his Facebook account, reflecting on the importance of the project for the Pearl of the Adriatic, and the story behind it. ''After 303 years, the extreme south of Croatia will be connected to the mother country, and we, the inhabitants of this part of Croatia, will cease to be second-class citizens waiting in a column at the border crossing for transit from one part to another. In recent days, many have been trying to direct the historical chronology of the Pelješac Bridge towards one, two, or some third option'', he wrote in his Facebook post. Franković also thanked PM Andrej Plenković, and he ended his post by saying that ''to the questions of what the bridge should be called, the answer is actually simple: the Pelješac Bridge and let it be guarded by St. Blaise and St. Rocco.

Likewise, the publication was accompanied by a video in which the progress of the bridge can be seen until a few days ago. You can see it below:

When talking about the impossible, it is precisely difficult not to go back thirty or twenty years, and remember the times when the project was groped around but without any concrete plan. Even since the project began three years ago, there have been many, many occasions where political tensions and doubts arose not only about its completion but about its development itself.

Now, the Peljesac bridge is a reality after the tireless and titanic efforts made in these three years and not only because of the demand for a bridge of these dimensions but also because of the area and the climatic conditions in which it was built. It is worth mentioning that the completion of the project has occurred in a very early period, and for this it would be necessary to work even at night and at dawn, taking into account the strong winds and storms that hit the area.

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ZAGREB, 22 July (2021) - Sea, Transport, and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butković said on Thursday the Pelješac Bridge would be connected with the last steel construction segment next week.

"We are connecting the Pelješac Bridge with the last segment of the steel construction. It will be a big event. It will happen on 28 July," he told the press in Omiš.

After that, the bridge will be completed with access roads, which should be built by the beginning of next year, Butković said.

"All of it will be put into operation early in June next year."

He said the bridge and the access roads would be "the project of all projects."

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July the 20th, 2021 - The Peljesac bridge construction is moving along nicely, with this strategic Croatian project which will connect Croatian and European Union territory once and for all nearing its end. The second to last Peljesac bridge segment has now been put into place.

As Morski writes, just a few days ago, the penultimate Peljesac bridge segment was installed. Just another 18.5 metres separate us from the physical connection of the Croatian south with the rest of the country, and that truly historic job should finally be completed in just ten days.

The crossing through Neum, the only piece of coastline neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina has, in order to enter or exit the extreme south of Croatia has posed a problem for many years. Thanks to EU membership and access to European Union funds which funded the project heavily, Croatian territory can finally be connected.

Two synchronised cranes first raised the second to last Peljesac bridge segment to the lower level of the already installed bridge structure, as was reported by HRT. An extremely precise operation then followed.

When a few millimeters were trimmed at the bottom, the cranes restarted, and the 18.5-metre-long and 100-tonne section of the future bridge’s pavement began to rise slightly. It stopped at places where additional cutting was needed, before being mounted into its final position.

Mounting the connecting segment in the middle between the two pillars is a demanding job and is therefore done at night when the steel is most stable.

The hard working Chinese contractors who have been hands on around the clock and the investor, Croatian roads (Hrvatske ceste) both hope that the weather will be fair on the night of July the 28th into the very early hours of the 29th. At that time, the installation of the final Peljesac bridge segment is currently planned.

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