Two bridges spanning the Sava river and connecting Croatia with Bosnia & Herzegovina (B&H) have been completed this fall, with a third bridge across the Sava connecting Serbia with B&H scheduled for completion next year.
On September 30th, opening ceremonies were held for the 660-meter long, six-lane Svilaj Bridge, part of the 670-kilometer pan-European Corridor Vc connecting Budapest via Osijek and Sarajevo with the Adriatic port of Ploce. Attending the opening ceremonies were EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Croatian prime minister Andrej Plenkovic and B&H Council of Ministers chairman Zoran Tegeltija.
The Svilaj bridge was completed at an estimated cost of €23 million, and is part of an overall financial support project provided by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) for twelve construction projects along Corridor Vc, with loans worth €1.7 billion.
Complementing the Svilaj bridge, on October 15th, major construction on a 463-meter bridge connecting Croatia with the Bosnian Sava river town of Gradiska was completed. The next stage in the project is building modern border crossings and access roads. Completion of the entire project is expected in 2023. Financing for the Gradiska Sava River bridge was provided in part by the World Bank and the European Union.
The bridge at Gradiska will provide the most direct route linking Zagreb, Banja Luka and Sarajevo.
A third bridge spanning the Sava, connecting Serbia with Bosnia & Herzegovina, is being built at Sremska Raca. The expected completion date is October 2022. The 1,310 meter bridge is being built along the projected new Belgrade-Sarajevo highway, a Turkish-backed, €2 billion project that is still largely in the planning stages.