Image: Montenegro border delays screenshot/HAK
Montenegro border delays caused severe congestion in Croatia’s far south on Sunday, with queues forming towards the main crossings. The worst situation was on the Adriatic Highway between Čilipi and the Karasovići border crossing, where, according to HRT, the queue stretched for around 15 kilometres and some travellers waited up to ten hours to cross the border.
According to the Croatian Automobile Club (HAK), traffic is moving slowly with occasional stoppages on state road DC8 between Komaji and the Karasovići border crossing. Delays are also affecting state road DC516 between Vitaljina and the Vitaljina border crossing.
Because of the severe congestion, police in Zvekovica are diverting part of the traffic onto alternative routes to keep the road leading to Dubrovnik Airport passable.
Hours-long Montenegro border delays
According to official HAK data, Montenegro border delays include waits of around four hours for vehicles entering Croatia via Karasovići, while drivers leaving Croatia are facing multi-hour queues. At the Vitaljina border crossing, drivers leaving Croatia are also waiting around four hours.
Long waits are being recorded at other Croatian border crossings as well. At Bajakovo on the Serbian border, the wait to enter Croatia is around three hours, while the wait to leave Croatia is approximately two hours.
On the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the longest delays are reported at Ličko Petrovo Selo, Hrvatska Dubica and Hrvatska Kostajnica, where drivers entering Croatia are waiting up to two hours. Waiting times of around 90 minutes are reported at Gornji Varoš, Nova Sela, Maljevac and Dvor.
Heavy traffic on other major routes
Traffic is also heavy on Croatia’s main roads leading towards the coast, near popular tourist destinations, ferry ports and most border crossings.
On the A1 motorway, queues of around one kilometre have formed before the Lučko and Demerje toll plazas in the direction of Zagreb, while there are no significant delays towards the coast. Following a traffic accident between the Donja Zdenčina interchange and Lučko toll plaza, traffic towards Zagreb is moving slowly in two lanes.
Traffic is also moving in slow-moving queues with occasional short delays between the Lučko toll plaza and the Bosiljevo 2 interchange, as well as between the Zadar East interchange and the Sveti Rok Tunnel. On the A2 motorway, the queue before the Trakošćan toll plaza towards Zagreb is around 1.5 kilometres long, while heavy goods vehicles and buses have been temporarily banned between the Krapina and Đurmanec interchanges due to increased traffic.
Traffic is also heavier than usual on the Istrian Y motorway between the Matulji interchange and the Učka Tunnel in both directions, while vehicles are moving slowly through roadworks on state road DC1 between Knin and Gračac.
Konavle virtually paralysed
Because of the serious impact the transit traffic is having on local residents, Konavle Municipality Mayor Božo Lasić has activated the municipal Civil Protection Headquarters.
He warned that Montenegro border delays are affecting not only travellers but also local residents, with parts of Konavle effectively brought to a standstill.
“Waiting times at the Karasovići border crossing have reached up to ten hours, leaving Konavle virtually paralysed,” Lasić said.
According to Lasić, parts of the local road network have become blocked, leaving some residents unable to reach their homes for hours despite not crossing the border at all. He added that the extremely high temperatures are further increasing the health and safety risks for people waiting inside their vehicles.
Drinking water provided for stranded travellers
To provide at least some assistance to people waiting for hours in the queues, the Konavle Public Fire Brigade deployed a water tanker supplying drinking water.
Lasić said police officers were making great efforts to ease the situation but were limited by the current border procedures and the existing capacity of the border crossings.
He also confirmed that he had informed the relevant national authorities and remains in regular contact with the Interior Minister and the Prefect of Dubrovnik-Neretva County. According to the information he has received, certain measures have already been introduced to help reduce the congestion.
The mayor urged Konavle residents to postpone any non-essential journeys by car in order to avoid making the traffic situation even worse.
Lasić stressed that while he fully supports the need to protect Croatia’s borders and carry out all required security procedures, normal daily life for people living near the border must also be safeguarded. He called on the authorities to take urgent measures to permanently resolve the Montenegro border delays and the traffic disruption affecting Konavle.
