A2 (Croatia) - History

History

In the 1960s, various levels of government in the Socialist Republic of Croatia initiated planning processes aimed at development of road transport infrastructure of the then constituent republic of Yugoslavia. The first proposal of a motorway link in Croatia was made by Josip Roglić, a member of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts at the time. He proposed the motorway to be built between Zagreb and Split. In 1962, a formal proposal was made by local authorities in Split, resulting in Croatian government adopting a framework motorway development plan in 1966. Designs were commissioned in 1967, extending the route north to Maribor, Slovenia for the first time. The extension largely used the same corridor as an existing Zagreb–Maribor road—Zagorje Highway—a congested and insufficiently safe two-lane road with at-grade intersections, connecting numerous towns and villages between Zagreb and Maribor. The road itself represented yet another upgrade of a transport route recorded along Zagreb–Maribor corridor since Middle Ages. The plan was shelved because of political pressures following suppression of Croatian Spring only to be reinstated upon Croatian independence from Yugoslavia.

The first section of the present A2 motorway was completed as a single-carriageway limited-access road between the Jankomir and Zaprešić interchanges, forming the westernmost section of Zagreb bypass, in 1990. The section included a number of bridges and viaducts, spanning the Sava River and numerous roads and railroads, making construction of a dual-carriageway prohibitively expensive at the time. In 1991, the 7.4-kilometre (4.6 mi) section was extended by 17 kilometres (11 mi) of dual-carriage motorway to Zabok. Lack of funding greatly slowed further construction, and the following 16.2-kilometre (10.1 mi) section to Velika Ves, south of Krapina, was only completed in 1996. Further construction was suspended due to lack of available funding.

In 1997, the governments of the Republic of Croatia and the German state of Bavaria made a joint declaration regarding their future transport infrastructure development cooperation. The cooperation primarily dealt with the construction of the remaining A2 motorway sections and the Franjo Tuđman Bridge, and the two issues were formally settled between the Croatian government and Walter Bau AG. In 2003, the Autocesta Zagreb–Macelj company was established by the Croatian government and was awarded a concession contract to operate the motorway. Furthermore, a joint investment agreement with Walter Bau AG was signed by the government, effectively securing the financial assets required to resume construction. In 2004, Strabag replaced Walter Bau AG as a contract partner and construction finally resumed. In 2006, the section between Jankomir and Zaprešić was upgraded to dual-carriage motorway, and the motorway was extended to Krapina itself. In 2007, after 33 months of construction defined by the contracts, the motorway was completed along its entire length, except for a short segment near Krapina which, as of July 2011, is still a single-carriageway road. The total cost of the motorway was approximately 372 million euros. The largest portion of the total pertains to the northernmost 20-kilometre (12 mi) section between Krapina and Macelj, which was reported to cost 235 million euros.