Osijek to be available by highway from June

The Croatian section of the corridor covers 88.6 kilometres, the international transport corridor runs from Budapest via Osijek and Sarajevo to the Adriatic coast to Ploce. The last five kilometres between Beli Manastir and the Hungarian border will be put into operation by June. Eight structures were built on this section: a 318-metre viaduct over the Karasica River and the railway line to Magyarbóly, two overpasses and five bridges.

The Hungarian section of the M6 motorway to the Croatian border was already completed last year. Once all the construction work has been completed, the journey time from Budapest to Osijek will be less than two hours – meaning that the Hungarian capital will be closer to the eastern Slavonian city than its own capital Zagreb.

While Hungary and Croatia have completely fulfilled their obligations, work in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still in full swing. Of the 325 kilometres of motorway in the Bosnian section of the corridor, 138 km have been built so far. Full completion is planned by 2030.

The difficult terrain in Bosnia poses particular challenges for motorway construction. With a length of 10.5 km (including connecting sections totalling 12 km), the tunnel through the Prenj Mountains in the south of the country will be the ninth longest road tunnel in Europe and one of the most demanding technical projects in the country.

Croatia began building the 5C corridor 20 years ago. The first section between Dakovo and Sredanci was opened to traffic in 2007, followed two years later by the Dakovo-Osijek motorway section. The section between Sredanci and the Bosnian border was opened in 2015, albeit without the bridge over the Sava. The Svilaj Bridge was not completed until 2021. The 24.5 km long section between Osijek and Beli Manastir with the longest bridge in Croatia, the 2,507 m long bridge over the Drava, was opened in 2022.