A 13-kilometre Cerovlje-Lupoglav section of the Istrian motorway extending to the Ucka tunnel was officially opened on Monday.

“This project is Istria’s economic, social and tourism lifeblood. It means general development. As far as tourism is concerned, Istria is a 90 percent car destination and the integration of Istria County in the country’s motorway system and European corridors marks the completion of a decades-long project that gained new quality through a public-private partnership with the Bina-Istra company,” Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the opening ceremony.

This is the second to last section of the so-called Motorway Y towards the Ucka tunnel, and Plenkovic said that he was “pleased” that the remaining section would soon be completed and opened to traffic.

“There remains a 1.5 billion kuna project of the second Ucka tunnel tube, and project documentation for the road to Matulji in Primorje-Gorski Kotar County,” he said.

“I am glad that Istria is recording excellent tourism results and this project will additionally strengthen that. By 2027 Croatia will invest as much as 45 billion kuna in transport infrastructure. Of that amount, 22 billion kuna will be for the modernisation of railways, 15 billion kuna for roads, 3 billion kuna for ports and 5 billion kuna for other investments. This is an important week for transport infrastructure, it is fascinating that Motorway Y is being completed and that sections of the Peljesac Bridge are being joined in the same week…  I believe that ahead of the 2022 summer season, the bridge and access roads will be opened to traffic,” said Plenkovic.

The Istrian Y motorway is the first road infrastructure project in Croatia based on the public-private partnership model. €800 million has been invested in it to date. It is the main traffic artery of the Istrian peninsula, with more than 10 million vehicles a year.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)