On July 28th, 2021, as the last segment of a steel box girder weighing 220 t was lifted slowly and welded into place, Pelješac Bridge was completed, connecting Croatian territory with Dubrovnik. Undertaken by the Chinese consortium China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), the project is the biggest cooperative project between China and Croatia.
Intersected by a small strip of the coast around the town of Neum which is part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian mainland's coastline used to be interrupted, causing a historical transportation problem in this near-coast area for Croatian citizens. The physical connection of the southernmost part of Dalmatia with the rest of Croatia is limited to Croatian territorial waters.
With a span of 2,440 m (8,005 ft) and a width of 22.5 m (73.9 ft), this cable-stayed bridge connects a southeastern Croatian exclave to the rest of the country while avoiding any border crossings with Bosnia and Herzegovina at Neum.
All 24 units of construction machinery employed for the project, including truck cranes, crawler cranes, trailer pumps and excavators, were SANY units. The entirety of the operation was guided by an expert SANY team sent from China, who managed the project to meet the EU standards for construction and material quality.
Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković noted that the bridge ensures the integrity of the Croatian territory and is a great boost to the country’s political, transportation and tourism developments. The Pelješac Bridge connects not only the country’s southern and northern territories but also Croatia and China.
