A new 32-kilometer expressway opened to traffic today, connecting the highway to Požarevac and linking Veliko Gradište to Golubac. The Danube Corridor will significantly shorten the distance between Belgrade and eastern Serbia. The total expressway length is 67.94 kilometers, with the remaining sections of the route set to be completed after this phase.
The central stretch of the expressway, from Požarevac to Veliko Gradište (36 kilometers), is expected to be finished by the end of the year, according to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
The new expressway will reduce travel time between Belgrade and Golubac to just 1 hour and 20 minutes, with a design speed of 100 kilometers per hour.
Section 1 has completed 14 structures, including four bridges, three slab culverts, and seven overpasses, with the longest bridge spanning the Velika Morava River at 355 meters. It also includes four roundabouts and three loops.
Section 3 will open a 10.85-kilometer section from the Veliko Gradište bypass to Ponikve. This section features six structures, including two bridges, two overpasses, and two bridge-passages, with the longest being the 202-meter bridge over the Pek River. Four roundabouts have also been completed.
In total, the project has used 1,378,407 cubic meters of material, 237,000 tons of asphalt, 468,177 cubic meters of stone, 2,675 tons of steel, 21,627 cubic meters of concrete, 131 kilometers of elastic-reflective fences, and 66 kilometers of wire fencing.
Construction of the expressway began in November 2021, with a budget of 337 million euros. The contractor is the Chinese company “Shandong,” while Serbian subcontractors have been involved in the project.
