The second tubes of the Sveti Rok and Mala Kapela tunnels on the A1 Zagreb-Split motorway were formally opened to traffic on Saturday by Transport Minister Bozidar Kalmeta.
The opening ceremony, held at the Marune rest area on the south side of the Sveti Rok tunnel, was attended by Health Minister Darko Milinovic, local government officials, and representatives of construction companies.
The new tunnel tubes will considerably increase safety and put an end to traffic congestion and mile-long tailbacks during the summer season, Kalmeta said, praising the constructors for their work.
Milinovic said that the tunnels guaranteed the economic development not just of Zadar and 
Lika-Senj counties but also of the entire country. He also commended the Croatian construction companies involved in the project, adding that they were as good as European.
Milinovic mentioned another project of national importance, the construction of the Peljesac bridge, saying that it would be completed within a few years.
The two newly-built tunnel tubes cost HRK 787.5 million, exclusive of Value Added Tax, while the cost of all four tubes in the two tunnels was HRK 2.3 billion before VAT.
The Mala Kapela tunnel is 5.8 kilometres long and the length of the Sveti Rok tunnel is nearly 5.7km. The speed limit in both tunnels is 100km per hour.
(Hina