A-1 motorway (Montenegro)
The A-1 motorway, otherwise known as the Bar-Boljare motorway (Montenegrin: Ауто-пут Бар — Бољаре, "Auto-put Bar — Boljare"), is a motorway in construction in Montenegro. It is part of the larger international project between Montenegro and Serbia that connects to the Belgrade–Bar motorway in Serbia. The motorway will connect Belgrade with Podgorica and the harbour city of Bar, Montenegro's main seaport. Italy, Montenegro and Serbia are lobbying to list the route as one of the Pan-European corridors, and it is frequently referred to as part of proposed Corridor XI, or 4B - an envisioned  ferry/motorway corridor linking Bari, Bar, Belgrade and Bucharest. The road's construction began on May 11, 2015, and it was expected to open to the public in November 2021. Route description. The motorway is to be built in three phases: History. In October 2008 the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism proposed a Detailed Zoning Plan of the Bar-Boljare Motorway. Before this, a small part of the first section was already built. On July 13, 2005, Montenegro's national day, the Sozina tunnel was opened. Together with the associated road north of the tunnel, it will eventually become  a part of the motorway, after a second parallel road and tunnel is built. The middle section of the motorway was made a priority by the government of Montenegro, and it was decided that this section would be built first. Tenders were invited to build this section. The bids were reviewed in March 2009, and the top bid came from the Croatian consortium, led by the "Konstruktor" company. Contracts were signed and the beginning of construction works was announced in June 2009. The official copening ceremony took place on October 15, 2009, in the village of Gornje Mrke north of  Podgorica, attended by the then Prime Ministers of Montenegro (Milo Đukanović), Serbia (Mirko Cvetković) and Croatia (Jadranka Kosor). However the Croatian consortium failed to provide necessary bank guarantees on time, so the contract was cancelled eight months later. The second best rated bidder, a consortium of the Greek company Aktor and the Israeli company Shikun & Binui was called in for negotiations by the government. After negotiations, it was agreed that Aktor/HCH consortium would build the two southern sections of the motorway for a price of 1.575 billion euro. The third and the northernmost section, from Mateševo to Boljare (border  with Serbia), as well as the small strip across Lake Skadar, were to be the subject of further negotiations. However, the Greek-Israeli consortium also failed to provide bank guarantees, so the negotiations between the consortium and the government of Montenegro were ended in December 2010. The Government of Montenegro began to explore financing options for motorway construction, including negotiations with Chinese investors. The possibility of China Road and Bridge Group and China Poly Group Corporation building the road, with the financial backing of Exim Bank of China, was explored. In January 2011, the Montenegrin Minister of Transport sent an  official letter of invitation to the "Poly Group". In April 2013 discussions were still under way between the Montenegrin government and Chinese parties and an offer of US$1bn of financing by EXIM bank and the selection of a preferred construction consortium was announced in July 2013. In December 2014 negotiations with Chinese partners successfully concluded. In May 2015 work started on the first section in Montenegro, Smokovac-Uvač-Mateševo, expected to finish within 48 months. Current status. As of June 2018, the only built part of the motorway is the Sozina tunnel and the associated road immediately north of  it. Currently, this part stands as a single carriageway with two lanes, with a second carriageway planned to be built. The section between Smokovac near Podgorica and Mateševo near Kolašin is under construction, and it will be Montenegro's first full motorway section. Initially, construction was expected to be finished in May 2019. Later this was revised, and now it is expected to be opened in September 2020. The pillars of the Moračica bridge, the tallest bridge on the motorway, were finished in October 2017. The right tube of Klopot Tunnel is the first tunnel that was excavated on motorway  on August 25, 2017. In 2017, tunnels Jabučki Krš (1370 m and 1430 m), Mrke (829 m and 800 m) and Vilac (815 m and 950 m) were also excavated. In 2018, tunnels Mrki Krš (700 m each tube), Mala Trava (1900 m and 1884 m), Suka (600 m each tube) and Vežešnik (2474 m and 2414 m) were excavated. Longest tunnel in middle section of motorway, Vjeternik Tunnel (3039 m and 2852 m) was excavated on July 9, 2018.