There is one place in Montenegro whose fame exceeds its purpose of existence. One intersection, at the Old Airport in Podgorica, represents the whole of Montenegro. The functioning of that intersection, i.e., its dysfunctionality, is a picture and an opportunity for our political and artistic scene, our elite, business and (ir)responsibility.
The intersection is right next to Voli at the Old Airport. It can be called a key intersection because whoever goes from the north through Podgorica to the coast will pass that way. Since recently, if they head towards Cetinje and Budva, the navigation system will direct drivers so that they pass by Voli, many will encounter that magical intersection.
Very often, cars collide, because when someone from the Old Airport joins the highway and wants to head towards Tuška puto, they will have to rely on luck because passing depends on the "odo", that is, how well one driver judges the speed of the other. A collision happens when you don't judge the rudeness of the other driver enough, because usually out of spite, drivers accelerate and won't let anyone pass. Driving on the highway is faster, and everyone who joins has to slow down. Complications are inevitable.
Every day near that intersection you can hear the screeching of brakes and the friction of tires on the asphalt, and during the night, when the traffic quiets down a bit, passers-by can see the signatures of the tires on the asphalt, which really seems like a work of art, rather than a stretch of highway.
The mouths of all authorities were full of stories about that intersection. They say they will be solved either with an overpass or an underpass. There are plans, there will be mergers, everything will be extraordinary, and in the meantime, the agony continues for anyone who takes that path. Everyone knows how to solve that disputed intersection, but no one lifted a finger. That intersection really works like many of our governments, it works like this future one, which is barely visible.
Whenever someone thought they couldn't “scold”, the story got a twist. Voli supermarket put ramps in their parking lot, probably because people from the surrounding buildings parked in the space reserved for customers going to Voli due to the lack of parking. Legitimate and wrong at the same time. But now people park along Boulevard 8-8. Those who are used to making a U-turn at the disputed intersection, have to "river", and it will be really interesting, because the drivers make slalom and moves like in the game "Need 4 speed". Mothers and fathers are cursed, saffron is everywhere. And it's daily and it's been going on for years.
All this is watched from the other side by cars parked on the gravel road towards the train station. Cars for sale are studded with paper, on each of which is marked the year, cubic capacity, mileage, price and phone number. A bad place to sell cars, because whoever passes that intersection will be sick of driving, because as long as that intersection exists, driving is not fun, driving is agony. Till further notice.
Then how to proceed? It is certain that experts will appear who will say that the work that needs to be done on that stretch requires a lot of money and time. There will be complications no matter what is done about that intersection. If we wonder why it is like that, of course, it is because someone made a plan, that is, a scoundrel. That crossroads is our reality, the clinch, the lack of a long-term plan and strategy, bridging, snowshoeing and the result of the greatest idea of all time that unfolds in two phases, the first is "we'll do it easily" and the second is "we'll see."
We will find a model of this intersection in the parliament, in the ministries, in the north and on the coast, and it actually exists still in the capital, at the Old Airport.
Bonus video:
