Croatia has finally completed the construction of the border crossing on the Gradiška – Novi Varoš highway, which should connect the Banjaluka – Gradiška highway with the Zagreb – Belgrade highway via a new bridge over the Sava near Gradiška.
As confirmed to us by the Ministry of Finance of Croatia, all works, as well as the equipping of the facilities of the new border crossing, have been completed and an application for conducting a technical inspection is being prepared.
“The Ministry of Finance does not have any new information regarding the opening of the future border crossing, and regarding the categorization of the border crossing, we refer you to the competent Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Croatia”, they stressed to us.
Although no one knows when the new crossing could be opened, it seems that for the first time there are some indications that it could happen in the foreseeable future, because the last obstacle before the start of negotiations between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has been resolved – Bosnia and Herzegovina has been filled. part of the commission that should define a new agreement on border crossings between the two countries, without which there is no categorization of the new crossing, or its commissioning.
Given that the Banja Luka company “Integral inženjering” has completed work on the expressway to Novi Varoš, that is, to the existing road that drivers now use from the old bridge on the Sava to Okučani, all that remains is to resolve the issue of the border crossing.
The Ministry of Security of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed to us yesterday that the necessary documentation has arrived from the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and that everything is now ready for the meeting of Bosnia and Herzegovina. members of the commission.
As we were told, the meeting will be held on November 10, and the negotiating positions of Bosnia and Herzegovina will be agreed at it, before the Croats and Bosnia and Herzegovina meet. members and begin negotiations. It is to be expected that in addition to this crossing, there will be other crossings on the agenda, for which there is an interest in changing the categorization, that is, in increasing the capacity and possibly introducing new categories, especially when it comes to goods traffic.
The only potentially bad news seems to be that, by all accounts, the new border crossing on the Croatian side will be primarily for passenger vehicles, not trucks. This can be concluded from the fact that there is a very small number of parking spaces for trucks, which could suggest that the Croats had no intention of creating a crossing that would have a large flow of goods even during construction. Even if this crossing were categorized for freight traffic, the small number of parking spaces could force truckers to look for another crossing because they will not have a place to park and will probably have to wait for a long time, in a queue on the expressway itself, which could cause headaches for passengers as well.
But as far as passenger traffic is concerned, the new crossing will shorten the journey from Banja Luka to Zagreb by at least half an hour, which means that the capital of our northern neighbor could be reached in just an hour and a half.
For now, no one can tell us when we will finally drive on the new expressway, but now for the first time the end of the agony of building first the bridge on the Sava, and then the expressway and border crossings, which has been going on for more than a decade, is coming to an end.
Recently, in an informal conversation with a representative of the European Commission, we received assurances that Brussels knows about this crossing, and that work is being done to make it ready soon.
As a reminder, the first phase of the expressway to Novi Varoš is a little more than four kilometers long, and the next phase is already being worked on, and the expressway should be connected directly to the highway. And that part of the road is being built by “Integral”, which is part of the contract with “Hrvatske cesta”, which is the investor of this project, he writes. Black Chronicle
