Adriatic Highway

The Adriatic Highway (Croatian/Serbian Latin: "Jadranska Magistrala"; Serbian Cyrillic: "Јадранска Магистрала") is a road that stretches along the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea and is part of the European route E65. The road passes through the countries of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is still a two-lane road for almost its entire length.

History

Until recent times the highway has been a major route connecting inland Croatia to the Adriatic coast. Since the 2000s multilane highways such as the A1 (Zagreb-Ploče-Dubrovnik) and the A6 (Rijeka-Zagreb) have superseded most of its traffic. More highways are being built along the coast, such as the A7 (Rupa-Žuta Lokva) or the A10 (part of the Corridor Vc). Upon the completion of A7 and A1 the part of D8 spanning from Ploče to Dubrovnik will be upgraded to an expressway. The possibility of other upgrades remains open. Though, because of high tolls on highways, the Adriatic Highway, even in parts parallel to A1 and superseded by A6, experiences heavy traffic.

The Montenegrin section, albeit as narrow as Croatian, still remains the only feasible route along the Adriatic coast. No highways are planned in Montenegro yet.

ections

Adriatic Highway runs along the east coast of the Adriatic Sea and passes through two countries: Croatia and Montenegro. Most of the highway is located in Crotia.

Croatian section

The Croatian section is officially named the State Route D8, and it runs from Rijeka, via Senj, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Opuzen and Dubrovnik to the border with Montenegro. Most of the D8 is still a two-lane road, excepting rare four-lane stretches. D8 experiences light traffic during most of the year, except in summer, where Croatians on vacation go to the seaside. The section from Rijeka to Senj experiences heavy traffic due to motorists unwilling to take the longer route along A6 and A1 (until the end of 2008, A6 had slow semi-highway parts). Part from Senj to Split is somewhat less crowded due to A1, but when A1 stops at Šestanovac, about convert|60|km|-1|abbr=on south of Split, tourists heading south have to use the Adriatic Highway. Because the road closely follows the Croatian coastline, travelling is much longer and less safe than by A1 highway because of numerous blind curves.

The highway passes through a small strip of Bosnian territory at Neum. Travellers not going to Bosnia and Herzegovina usually aren't inspected by customs officers. A passport must be shown, but is often not checked. The road from Neum to the rest of Bosnia is in a bad shape. An alignment entirely through Croatia is currently in construction. It will eliminate the haste of crossing two unnecessary borders by the Pelješac Bridge.

Montenegrin section

Within Montenegro, the two-lane road runs from Herceg Novi through Tivat, Budva, Petrovac, Sutomore, and Bar to Ulcinj. The traditional highway runs around the Kotor Bay through Kotor, but through traffic uses the ferry connection across the Verige Strait between Herceg Novi and Tivat.

There are two major roads from the Adriatic Highway to inland Montenegro – at Budva, via Cetinje, and at Sutomore, via Sozina tunnel. It merges with Croatian road network at the Debeli Brijeg border crossing near Herceg Novi, and ends east of Ulcinj. From Herceg Novi to Haj Nehaj, near Sutomore, it is the part of European routes E65/E80, which then transforms into European route E851.

The Verige bridge spanning the Bay of Kotor and part of the Adriatic Highway is planned to be built in the future.

See also

* A1 highway (Croatia)