After long delays, a new bridge connecting the Adriatic island of Ciovo with the mainland was opened on Tuesday.

The bridge was officially opened for traffic by the Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic.

“The mainland-Ciovo bridge will significantly reduce traffic jams, and speed up the flow of people and delivery of everything necessary for the tourist season,” Plenkovic said.

Construction began in February 2015, with the Zagreb-based engineering company Viadukt in charge of the works, but the investor, the state-owned Hrvatske Ceste company, broke the contract with Viadukt in March last year, citing delays and Viadukt’s insolvency issues.

After issuing a new tender, Hrvatske Ceste accepted the joint bid by the Split-based companies Poduzece za Ceste and Strabag in October last year, after which construction resumed.

The bridge is 547 metres long, and valued at 207 million kuna (€28 million), 176.7 million kuna (€24 million) or 85 percent of which was financed from the EU funds.

“The people of Ciovo and Trogir have dreamt of this bridge for decades, their ambition was to have a better connection between the island and the mainland. I want to thank the contractors, the investor, Hrvatske Ceste, and everyone who worked on finishing this project which was of utmost importance to the people of Ciovo,” Plenkovic said.

The people welcomed the opening of the bridge, which solved years’ long problems of access and delivery during summer seasons.

(€1 = 7.38 kuna)

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