Yesterday a breakthrough achieved through the Debeli Brijeg tunnel in Pelješac.

Contractor Strabag achieved the breakthrough for the 2,467 meters long tunnel after 8,5 months of excavating which started on April 7 2020.

The excavation teams from both sides met 74 days ahead of schedule. A total 113,959 cubic meters of material has been excavated

The tunnel has been built with New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).

The Debeli Brijeg tunnel is part of Pelješac Bridge Project. The tunnel also has maintenance tube. Together with 499 metre long Kamenice tunnel, the 2,467 metre long Debeli Brijeg tunnel will feed the Pelješac Bridge.

The Pelješac Bridge Project will connect Southern Croatia to each other. Southern Croatia is divided into two because of Bosnia and Herzegovina's access strip to the Mediterranean sea at Neum. When you want to go to southern part of Croatia, you need to go through Bosnia and Herzegovina. With the help of Pelješac Bridge Project, Croatia will bypass Bosnia and Herzegovina.

European Union to finance the 85% of the costs of building Pelješac Bridge Project. Total cost of project is 420 million euro and European Union provided 357 million euro.

Most of the costs go to for building of the bridge. The bridge itself is built by Chinese company China Road and Bridge Corporation. Austrian Strabag only build tunnels and roads.