March 19 (SeeNews) - The Montenegrin government said the 15-km Lubnice-Jezerine road in the country's northeast has been opened for traffic following an overhaul.
Initially, traffic will be permitted daily between 7 am and 6 pm under a trial operation regime until further notice. Heavy duty trucks and vehicles transporting dangerous goods are banned from using the new road for the time being, the government said in a statement on Monday when the opening ceremony was held.
The road includes the newly build 2.8-km Klisura tunnel and an adjacent bridge of 0.98 km, according to the statement.
The project was carried out in four stages, including the revamp of the 6.61-km Lubnice road, the rehabilitation of the 3-km Jelovica road, the construction of the Klisura tunnel and the bridge, and the revamp of the 0.95-km Jezerine road.
The new Lubnice-Jezerine road helps cut by 40 minutes the travel time between the towns of Kolasin and Berane, the head of the government's transport administration agency, Radomir Vuksanovic, said at the opening ceremony, as quoted by broadcaster RTCG.
In November 2020, Montenegro approved taking a 26 million euro loan ($28 million) from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to finance the overhaul of the Lubnice-Jezerine road. Prior to this, the government took a 5 million euro EBRD loan in 2013 and a further 20 million euro EBRD loan in 2015 for the project.
($ = 0.918 euro)