The fourth and final Supava Tunnel, 1.3km long and being built by the Greek firm Avax, on the access road to Peljesac Bridge has been completed.
The final section of the last span was installed in July this year but it will be June next year before the bridge is open to traffic. The bridge connects Croatia’s mainland at the town of Komarna with the town of Brijesta on the Pelješac peninsula, meaning vehicles will not need to travel through Bosnia and Hercegovina to access the peninsula.
Hrvatske Ceste, the state-owned company responsible for Croatia’s public roads, awarded the tender to China Road and Bridge Corporation in 2018 over an Austrian Strabag group and an Italian-Turkish consortium Astaldi/Içtas. CRBC also offered to complete the project six months ahead of schedule. It is reportedly the first such project for a Chinese company within the European Union.
The four-lane bridge stands 55m above sea level with pylons up to 124m high.
The final steel span of the bridge was one of 165 such sections built for the infrastructure project by the China Rail and Bridge Corporation.
China Road and Bridge Corporation is part of the Chinese state-owned China Communications Construction Company. CCCC was formed through the merger of CRBC and China Harbour Engineering in 2005.
Construction in January 2019 and the bridge is part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to fund and construct major infrastructure between China through Asia to the Middle East, Africa and Europe.
