Europe’s incredible £350m bridge built to bypass major country and boost EU travel | World | News
When the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia dissolved in January 1990, it was divided into five successor states: Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (later Serbia and Montenegro). However, Croatia emerged victorious in the fight for the Adriatic Sea coastline, covering just over 1,800 kilometers, effectively blocking most other countries’ access to the sea.
Slovenia gained a short but significant coastline, only 46 kilometers long, between Italy and Croatia, now often referred to as the “Slovenian Riviera”. However, another country managed to claim a smaller area of only 19 kilometers. Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted a 19-kilometer section of sea access surrounding the city of Neum. But in doing so, this small town became a big problem for its neighbor, Croatia.
The Neum corridor effectively divided Croatia in two, with Dubrovnik on one side and Split on the other. That regulation has become increasingly problematic as the country’s tourism industry has boomed, as those who want to visit the iconic walled city made famous by HBO’s Game of Thrones by land must cross two international borders within just 5.6 miles.
In the late 1990s, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia signed the Neum Agreement, which provided for Croatia’s passage through Neum. However, the agreement was never ratified.
At this point this wasn’t actually a problem. For many years, security was lax and tour buses could pass through Neum without stopping. However, Croatia’s accession to the European Union in 2013 brought with it tighter border security and therefore longer traffic congestion in the summer months. It later joined the Schengen Area in 2023; This means the controls will become even tighter and more time consuming due to the checks required at both ends, not just the exit.
According to these rules, a person traveling from Dubrovnik to mainland Croatia via Neum will go through three separate border controls: Croatian (Schengen) exit control, Bosnia and Herzegovina entry control, and then Croatian (Schengen) entry control.
This change was too much for Croatia to handle. As a result, the country decided to build a bridge of approximately 7,900 meters, stretching from Komarna on the northern mainland to the southeastern semi-exclave of the Peljesac peninsula. This project bypasses the Neum entirely, meaning those who use it avoid international border crossings.
Construction of the Pelješac Bridge started in 2007 but was stopped due to the global financial crisis. For a long time, only a few concrete foundations were in place. Then in June 2017 the European Commission committed €357 million (£297 million) for the construction of the bridge and its supporting infrastructure. This will account for 85% of the total construction costs and will provide benefits such as increased tourism and trade, among others.
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), which bid €278 million (approximately £232 million) for the bridge construction tender in January 2018, won the tender. Construction resumed a few months later, and the bridge was connected almost exactly three years later. The Pelješac Bridge and its access roads were opened to traffic a year later, on July 26, 2022.
The Ston bypass was later opened in April 2023, allowing buses, heavy trucks and those carrying hazardous loads to use the bridge.
The original 2007 design had a main span of 1,864 feet, but that design was modified and the bridge was built as a multi-span cable-stayed bridge with a total length of 7,887 feet. It consists of 13 spans, seven of which are cable-stayed, five 285-meter central spans and two 668-meter outer spans.
As of July 2025, more than seven million vehicles have passed through since its opening, with significant usage during peak tourism months. In its first year, more than 2.3 million vehicles were seen as of July 2023, and nearly 467,000 crossings were recorded in August alone.
