Interior Minister Davor Bozinovic said on Friday that since the opening of Peljesac Bridge to traffic at midnight on Tuesday, the number of passengers going through the Klek land border crossing between Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina has dropped by 42 percent "compared to the corresponding period the week before," state agency Hina said.

“This is another confirmation that building the bridge was a necessity, not only for our people but also for foreign tourists in Croatia,” Hina cited Bozinovic’s tweet.

Hina did not clarify what the actual traffic volume recorded at Klek was, or on the newly opened bridge itself.

The bridge spans the 2.1-kilometers wide strait between the village of Komarna on the mainland and the village of Brijesta on the Peljesac peninsula. It provides a direct road link between the southernmost part of Croatia and the rest of the country, otherwise cut off from the mainland at the town of Neum, a small strip of land belonging to Bosnia and Herzegovina which is also the country’s only access to the Adriatic Sea.

The entire project, including access roads, cost €525 million, including €357 million in EU funding, and was built by the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).