Croatia Completes Construction of Its Section of Pan-European Corridor Vc

October 7, 2025 – Croatia has completed the construction of the final section of the A5 motorway, which forms part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor Vc, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced.

According to the government’s press release, the completion of the Beli Manastir–Hungarian border segment means that Croatia has now fully met its commitments under the corridor linking Budapest with the southern Adriatic port of Ploče.

“We have connected Budapest with Osijek in practically two hours of driving,” – said Plenković during the opening ceremony.

The newly completed section, less than six kilometers long, required two and a half years of work due to complex terrain and the construction of the Dukat viaduct.
The total cost amounted to approximately €46 million.

Construction of the A5 motorway began in 2005, including key infrastructure such as the Svilaj Bridge over the Sava River (opened in 2021) and the Osijek–Beli Manastir section (opened in December 2022).

Corridor Vc: Strategic Link Between the Danube and the Adriatic

The 679-kilometer-long Corridor Vc runs through Hungary, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, connecting Central Europe with the Adriatic Sea.
Most of the remaining work lies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the highway is still under construction. Once completed, the corridor will significantly strengthen regional economic integration and multimodal transport.

Comment by the Institute of Danube Research:

“The completion of Croatia’s section of Corridor Vc represents an important step in developing the Danube–Adriatic transport axis.
This corridor holds geo-economic importance for the entire South-Eastern Europe, linking industrial zones of Central Europe with Adriatic ports.
For Ukraine, which is expanding its own Danube–Adriatic–Balkan connectivity, Croatia’s consistent approach to implementing EU transport strategies serves as a valuable model for cross-border infrastructure coordination and sustainable logistics development.”