A7 (Croatia) - Future

Future

Two new sections of the A7 motorway are currently under construction, extending the route eastward into vicinity of Kraljevica, Crikvenica, and Krk Bridge. The first section, between Sveti Kuzam and Meja, Croatia, will connect the A7 motorway to D501 state road, while the second one will connect it to extended D102 state road. The two sections combined are only 5.3 kilometres (3.3 mi) long, but since they use very constricted routes defined by rugged terrain, proximity of coastline, numerous towns and villages, existing dense road network, and further transport corridors reserved for planned lowland railroad between Rijeka and Zagreb, the sections will include five viaducts and three tunnels in addition to the new interchanges. The two sections are scheduled to be completed by summer of 2012, later delayed to November or December 2012.

Long-term plans of development of the A7 motorway, published in 2000s, involved an extension of the southern terminus to the interchange with the A1 motorway at Žuta Lokva. The section between Križišće and the Žuta Lokva was initially planned to be opened as an expressway by 2009, but those plans have been put on hold and the section is no longer included in any short-term plans, as no funding is going to be appropriated for it until 2012. In 2012, Croatian government announced that no funds shall be made available in near future for construction of A7 south of Križišće.

Further long term plans specify an outer Rijeka bypass which is planned on the route Jurdani-Marčelji-Kikovica-Kraljevica, and it would be wider and longer. Similarly, a new interchange of the A8 and A7 motorways is planned near Jušići; however, these long-term plans, even though they are well documented in government studies, still have no funding approved.