The Traffic Administration expects that the majority of construction work on the route of the future boulevard from Tivat Airport to Jaz, on the stretch closest to the airport terminal building, will be completed by the end of this month.
The last week of March marks the beginning of the so-called IATA summer season in commercial aviation, and with it a gradual increase in the number of flights and a significant increase in traffic at the Airport. Due to works on the new boulevard, access to the airport terminal building has been extremely difficult for several months, which has caused dissatisfaction among passengers, but also problems for employees at the Tivat airport, as well as skepticism among the management of the Airport of Montenegro regarding the pace at which work is being carried out on this, the most critical section for the operation of the airport.
Unofficially, ACG says that an unacceptably small number of workers and machines are being employed daily on the section where, according to the project, the construction of a large roundabout and a three-way intersection should be completed so that cars and buses can approach the terminal building without hindrance, and its immediate surroundings should be somewhat tidied up before the start of the summer IATA and tourist season.
"We expect that the works that enable normal traffic flow on the first section of the boulevard will be completed by the end of March, except for the first fifty meters of the right lane," the Traffic Administration, which is the investor in the boulevard construction project, told "Vijesti".
Works scheduled for two years
The reconstruction of the existing Adriatic Highway on this stretch into a boulevard is being carried out over a length of 16 kilometers. The work, worth over 54 million euros excluding VAT, is being carried out by the Chinese consortium Shandong Foreign Economic & Technical Cooperation Co., Ltd & Shandong Luqiao Group Co Ltd, and the main local subcontractor is the Podgorica-based construction company Bemax. The works officially began in January 2024 and should be completed within two years. The reconstruction of this section of the Adriatic Highway, as previously announced by the Traffic Administration, involves the construction of a boulevard-type road, which will have two lanes in each direction of travel, sidewalks on both sides and a median strip, and a new pipeline of the Regional Water Supply System will be built alongside it. The boulevard will have as many as 12 roundabouts and five three-way intersections.
The Traffic Administration did not provide a precise answer to the question of the current percentage of completion of the works on the section from the airport to the Kotor roundabout, which, from the point of view of the needs of the citizens of Tivat, Kotor, Krtol and Luštica, and the entire local tourism industry, is the top priority before the start of the tourist season.
In this section, the construction of about two kilometers of the new boulevard route has been completed, mostly parallel to the existing route of the main road along the runway of Tivat Airport. The boulevard has been moved about a hundred meters northeast of the existing main road in this section. Intersections and a part of the route near the airport terminal are currently being built, as well as the new large Kotor roundabout, which often causes major traffic delays.
"Given that the works on the planned boulevard are divided into sections, at the moment each of the sections is at a different percentage of completed works. On the first three sections, it is expected that most of the final works will be completed by the end of March, except for the right side of the bridge at the beginning of the route and the right carriageway lane on the third section," the Administration told "Vijesti", noting that the works on the boulevard route through the territory of the Budva municipality have not yet begun "and according to the work program they are planned for the next month and a half."
"Earthworks and concrete works are being carried out on the other sections. It should be noted that in addition to the designed works, works were also carried out to protect existing installations and install new installations, and that during the works there were major problems with both the existing channels that are outside the road zone, and with the alienation of newly installed cables over a length of more than two kilometers, which significantly affected the dynamics on the first three sections," the Traffic Administration announced.
They did not explain in more detail how many workers and machines are engaged on the section near the Airport every day, nor did they comment on the dissatisfaction of the ACG management with the dynamics in the context of the fact that the summer season at the Tivat Airport begins in about twenty days.
Incomplete documentation
"Work is being carried out on the storm sewer in front of the airport, while work on the right side of the bridge over the Gradiošnica River at the very beginning of the boulevard has yet to begin, but it will not disrupt traffic. The number of workers and machines depends on weather conditions and the job description, and the organization of the work itself belongs to the contractor, who accordingly hires the required number of workers," the Administration announced, noting that the rough construction work on the "Krtoljska raskrsnica" roundabout has been completed and work is currently being carried out there to install installations "including installations serving the Airport and CGES."
They explained that despite earlier announcements that by the end of December last year, the Administration would announce a tender for the selection of a contractor for the so-called "zero" phase of the future city boulevard through Tivat, which would connect the new Tivat - Jaz boulevard with the already constructed roundabout in Kukuljina, this was not done due to a deficiency in the project documentation that was discovered in the meantime.
"A review of the submitted project documentation revealed that the planning document, according to which the project was developed, does not foresee the construction of a pedestrian path on the right side towards Tivat, which the Administration considers unacceptable. Given that pedestrian traffic is suddenly interrupted from the part of the boulevard under construction, traffic safety could potentially be jeopardized. Also, without a sidewalk on the right side, there is a problem of relocating existing installations that are located right under that sidewalk on the part of the boulevard under construction," the Administration explained.
They state that due to these problems, they cannot estimate when the tender for the "zero phase" of the Tivat city boulevard will finally be announced, and what the value of these works will be, because "they will receive an estimate after the project documentation is changed, if possible."
The fate of two kilometers of highway is unknown
When asked what the final fate of the approximately two kilometers of existing roadway of the Adriatic Highway parallel to the runway of Tivat Airport is, which will remain redundant and become a double-blind roadway after the completion of the boulevard route from the Gradiošnica River to the Kotor intersection, or whether the road will be demolished and the freed land area will be given over to the spatially very limited Tivat Airport for the much-needed expansion of capacity, the Traffic Administration could not provide a precise answer.
"At this moment, the Administration has no information on the ultimate purpose of this part of the existing highway. It will be able to be used by Tivat Airport, however, the Traffic Administration believes that after the completion of the works, this part could be used to widen the existing canal, at least temporarily, given the major water problems that were noted during the works on the boulevard," the Administration concluded.
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