D8 Road (Croatia)

D8 Road (Croatia)

D8 state road comprises Croatian section of Adriatic Highway, and it runs from Pasjak border crossing to Slovenia via Rijeka, Senj, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Opuzen and Dubrovnik to the border with Montenegro at Karasovići. Most of the D8 state road is still a two-lane road, excepting rare four-lane stretches. Total length of the road through Croatia is 643.1 kilometres (399.6 mi).

Until recent times the road has been the primary route connecting Adriatic coastal parts of Croatia. Since the 2000s multilane motorways have taken over most of its traffic, and yet more motorways are still being built along the coast. The motorways parallel to the road are A7 (Rupa broder crossing - Rijeka - Sveti Kuzam), A6 (Rijeka - Bosiljevo) and A1 (Zagreb - Bosiljevo - Zadar - Split - Vrgorac), representing sections of proposed Adriatic Ionian motorway. Since D8 state road closely follows the well-indented Croatian coastline, travel is considerably longer and less safe compared to the motorways because of numerous blind curves and at-grade intersections. D8 state road is still popular as an alternative to the tolled motorways, so the road carries fairly constant traffic during most of the year. The traffic intensifies in the summer, because of substantial traffic to touristic destinations.

The section from Rijeka to Senj experiences heavy traffic in particular because many motorists are unwilling to take the longer route along A6 and A1. This problem used to be further exacerbaced before 2009 when A6 still had slow semi-highway parts on the Rijeka-Bosiljevo route. This section shall remain congested at peak intervals until eventual completion of A7 motorway between Rupa and Žuta Lokva.

Since parallel A1 motorway ends at Vrgorac, approximately 20 km (10 mi) northwest of Ploče, southbound A1 traffic generally switches to D8 state road. Further 30 km (20 mi) after Ploče D8 road terminates at Klek border crossing to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as Adriatic Highway route runs across a tiny strip of Bosnia and Herzegovina territory around town of Neum. As the route reenters Croatia at Zaton Doli border crossing D8 state road resumes, running to Dubrovnik along the coastline. East of Dubrovnik the road passes by Dubrovnik Airport and reaches the border with Montenegro at Karasovići border crossing to Montenegro.

There are official plans to build an expressway bypassing Neum in Bosnia and Herzegovina entirely via a series of tunnels and bridges, Pelješac Bridge being the most notable among them. The route would diverge from current D8 route south of Ploče, cross the bridge to Pelješac peninsula, form a junction to D414 state road and rejoin present D8 route near Doli. The expressway is to be tolled. So far no official road number has been assigned to the planned route, even though Pelješac Bridge construction was started. It is also possible that D8 designation shall be transferred from the bypassed D8 section to the expressway.

D8 is the longest state road in Croatia at 643.1 km (399.6 mi).

The road, as well as all other state roads in Croatia, is managed and maintained by Hrvatske ceste, a state-owned company.