Traffic on the busiest tourist route in Montenegro, Dobrakovo-Budva, this summer season will not be hampered by numerous road works and excavations, as was the case in previous years. The only critical points on that route will be on the highways in Donja Gorica and Golubovci.
On Friday, "Vijesti" reporters traveled by car from the Dobrakovo border crossing to the Montenegrin "tourism metropolis" - Budva, and observed construction works in Lepenac, Donja Gorica and Brajići. The journey in one direction lasted more than four hours with stops in Donja Gorica and Brajići.
On the Cetinje roundabout (former Cetinje traffic lights) around 16 pm there was a huge traffic jam from the direction of Cetinje. The line of cars stretched from the roundabout all the way to the "Petrol" gas station in Donja Gorica. One of the drivers said that he traveled for about 40 minutes from the pump to the roundabout.
However, the crowd, which was seen by "Vijesti" reporters, was not caused by works on the extension of the main road through that village, but regular traffic jams in the transit Vojislavljevića Street, which stretches from Cetinje to the roundabout in Zabjelo.
In Donja Gorica, traffic jams regularly also occur near the private University of Donja Gorica, where the road is narrowed due to works. We are talking about works on the expansion of the highway - from the Cetinje roundabout to the bridge at Sitnica, which the Traffic Directorate plans to complete by the end of the year. During July and August, it was announced earlier from that authority, traffic will be carried out on the existing two lanes.
The same situation is on the part of the road Podgorica - Petrovac on the highway in Golubovci. Works are being carried out on the extension of the highway from the roundabout near the airport to the bypass around Golubovac. Those works, as expected by the Directorate, will be completed by the end of the year. However, during the summer season, as in Donja Gorica, tourists will drive on only two lanes with limited traffic signs for road works.
If, as announced by the Directorate, the works on Lepenac and Brajići are completed by June, tourists will have a good road connecting the north with Podgorica and the capital with Cetinje and Budva. The causes of the stoppage this year will be on the outskirts of Podgorica.
On Lepenac, a few kilometers of the third lane remain to be paved, while on Brajići there are also several kilometers of asphalting left.
The works on the tunnel at Brajići and on the construction of the third lane at Zavala have been completed, so a fairly good highway, without large and dangerous curves, significantly speeds up the journey from Cetinje, but also from Podgorica to Budva.
Since 2015, works on the road Podgorica - Budva have been carried out through ten projects, namely on Barutana in a length of four kilometers, on Ulići in a length of 6,6 kilometers, on the section Obzovica - Brajići, on the section Ulići - Cetinje - Ugnji, reconstructed is the Mekavac tunnel and expanded by one lane, the highway in Markovići was expanded to a length of 3,6 kilometers, a third lane was built in Ugnje and the third lane was reconstructed in Obzovica.
It is not known what will happen to the water in "Klisura", Parača claims that it is not underground
The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs and the Directorate for Transport do not yet have a solution for the underground water that appeared during the tunnel "Klisura" as part of the reconstruction of the Kolašin-Berane road.
The works were "temporarily" stopped a month ago, as the Directorate said at the time, because a source of underground water appeared. However, the works have not yet continued, and "Vijesti" reporters did not see any workers at the location where the tunnel was broken. The empty construction site was guarded by only one guard.
The security guard from the Bosnian company "Euroasfalt" did not let "Vijesti" journalists approach the tunnel due to, he said, security reasons. From a distance, a huge amount of water could be seen flowing from that building. The flow of water resembled a small waterfall.
The head of the Traffic Directorate, Savo Parača, denied that it was a source of underground water, but that it was "water that seeps from the mountain".
"You know that this year there was heavy rainfall and that a huge snow fell on Bjelasica and lasted until late. While drilling the tunnel, we came across a pocket that filled with water and now that water is draining," explained Parača.
As of Monday, the Directorate did not answer the questions of when the work on the tunnel will continue, but also whether the necessary geological surveys were done before drilling and what they showed.
Parača, however, said earlier in a telephone conversation that all the geological research had been done, but that the water was so deep that it could not be discovered.
He then said that experts from the Faculty of Civil Engineering are still looking for a solution to bypass the water during the works.
He said that for now the tunnel is unsafe to carry out the work and that it will continue when the water drains.
It remains unclear whether a solution will be found for the water or whether the location where the tunnel was drilled will be completely bypassed, because the Directorate did not respond to the questions of "Vijesti".
The "Klisura" tunnel, under the mountain pass, should be 2,8 km long. In addition to the work in the tunnel, the reconstruction of the 14,4-kilometer section is also planned, including the 150-meter-long bridge. The section overcomes a height difference of 500 meters, and with its construction, the distance from the center of Kolašin to the center of Beran will be 38 kilometers. The project costs 34,7 million euros.
This route would shorten the journey from Kolašin to Beran, which in that case would take a little more than half an hour. Thanks to this road, Berane would be closer to the capital after the construction of the priority section of the Montenegrin highway - Smokovac-Uvač-Mateševo.
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