Pelješac Bridge – The Most Expensive Monument to Croatian Irrationality

Do we really need ‘that Pelješac bridge’, as traffic expert Dr. Ivan Miloš told us, after the main political actors in the country unanimously said it was okay?

Although Dr. Ivo Bičanić did not agree with Miloš regarding the railway and the port of Rijeka, they do agree on the bridge. Bičanić somewhat ironically, but seemingly coherently and logically, comments on Croatia’s need to finance patriotic desires with foreign money (85 percent of the total investment is expected from EU funds). Because it is about inflated national pride, not some calculation on paper. Meanwhile, those in favor of building the bridge do not think at all about what to do with it when one day it is no longer in use, and all indications are that this will be the case.

Our politicians seem to have forgotten that BiH will one day be part of the EU, perhaps even much sooner than expected given the development of the political situation in the world and new American activity in that country. Bičanić believes that politicians and many in Croatia have asked the wrong question: How to territorially connect Croatia? And thus the idea of the Pelješac bridge was born because in that case neither tunnels, overpasses, nor various corridors make sense. However, that was the wrong question; the right one was how to get to the southernmost part of Croatia as quickly, safely, easily, and cheaply as possible. The answer presents itself: via the highway on the other side of the hill, i.e., through Popovo polje in BiH, with a fast access road. He envisioned the situation for about 15 years from now.
– You are in Cavtat and want to go to the world by car, bus, or truck. You have two routes available. You can choose the highway through Popovo polje and BiH or the Pelješac bridge. BiH has recently become a member of the EU and Schengen, so you do not have to stop at the borders. What do you choose? – asks Bičanić.

Instead of an answer, he offers a calculation and says: If we choose BiH, from Cavtat to the highway is 30 kilometers, or half an hour of driving. Then, via the highway through Popovo polje to the A1 highway in Čarapine is 100 kilometers (about one hour of driving, even shorter), which means we would drive to the ‘Croatian’ highway in less than an hour and a half.

The other option is via the bridge and takes three hours. From Cavtat to the turnoff for Pelješac is 70 kilometers of winding roads along the edges of settlements and local traffic (an hour and a half), across Pelješac is 30 kilometers of fast road, but again with local traffic of tractors and trucks (45 minutes), and then the bridge and access to the A1 highway in Rogotin is 30 kilometers of local road (45 minutes).

Thus, driving over the bridge is more dangerous because it is exclusively on local fast roads, and one must overtake tractors and trucks. This means that this route is also more exhausting, the car wears out more, as does the fuel, which leads to greater environmental pollution. It is logical that everyone will choose to travel through BiH, leaving the bridge unused.

– Who will then use the bridge? Tourists going to the western part of Korčula and the eastern part of Pelješac? That lasts two months, and the question is how many of them there are. It will also be used by those who cycle along the coast and about ten thousand local residents of Orebić and Korčula who go to the world, and it is also questionable how many of them there are. The problem is that the bridge is being built for a hundred years or more, and only ten years later will the highway be built. Therefore, the bridge needs to be maintained for the remaining 90 years, which includes painting, which is expensive here – says Bičanić and wonders how much this patriotic thrill and pleasure costs.

Together with the access roads, this project is worth 2.85 billion kuna. It could be, along with Obrovac, the most expensive monument built in memory of Croatian irrationality.

You can read the full text in the weekly Lider.