The Deputy Mayor of Sarajevo, Predrag Puharić, appearing on TVSA, said that the adoption of the Urban Plan for the City of Sarajevo will be presented to city councilors druing an urgent session. He highlighted two major projects outlined in this Plan: the Šip tramline and the Vraca tunnel toward East Sarajevo. Puharić is not the only official who has announced large-scale transportation projects recently. The cantonal minister in charge, Adnan Šteta, also presented a new bridge over the Miljacka River that would connect Otoka with the area around the Olympic-size swimming pool. However, while these mega projects are being announced, those initiated long ago remain unfinished, and no-one knows how or when they will finally be completed.
According to official data, since the war ended until today, only three major transportation infrastructure projects in Sarajevo were completely finalized. The projects include: the Ilidža-Blažuj-Mostarsko Raskršće expressway, the A Transversal (Dobrinja-Airport), and the four-lane road (two lanes in each direction) from Ilidža to Hrasnica, which now features a tramline running through its central median.
Over the same period of more than thirty years, numerous transportation projects were initiated but never completed. Some construction sites are now overgrown with weeds, with the completion of works nowhere in sight. Despite this, the recent presentation and announcement of new mega road projects has resonated strongly with the public. These projects include the bridge from Otoka to the Olympic-size swimming pool, the tramline toward Šip, and a tunnel from Grbavica via Vraca toward East Sarajevo—a pre-war plan that has resurfaced.
The Vraca Tunnel
According to the new plan, this project will connect to the Southern Longitudinal, which will directly reduce daily traffic congestion in this transit part of the city.
The Tramline to Šip
An extension of the tramline from the Railway Station toward the Šip neighborhood is planned, and the pace of its implementation will depend on the available financial resources in the upcoming period.
“Traffic congestion is a characteristic of every major city where people commute to work daily, but our task is to offer concrete solutions through projects like these and facilitate easier movement,” Puharić emphasized to TVSA.
The tunnel under Vraca would actually start from the current (half) roundabout in Grbavica, which is currently under construction. As N1 has reported in detail, the completion of this roundabout, as well as the full-profile Southern Longitudinal with two lanes in each direction, is currently impossible due to property issues with a building located directly on the route of the longitudinal. The head of East Sarajevo, Ljubiša Ćosić, also previously spoke to N1 about the Vraca tunnel project.
When it comes to the tramline toward Šip, it is currently unfeasible because work must first resume on the First Transversal near the Railway Station. These works, which began in 2020, are now overgrown with weeds as the construction site has been abandoned. For the tramline to reach Šip, besides constructing the First Transversal, it is also necessary to relocate a section of Alipašina Street in this neighborhood—a process that also began in 2020 and was never finalized.
The Otoka Bridge
Within the framework of the future VII Transversal, the conceptual design of the future bridge at Otoka was presented. This infrastructure would connect this part of the city directly to the highway through a roadway running from the Southern Longitudinal—featuring a roundabout near the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina—continuing past the Istiklal Mosque, crossing the roundabout and the road along Džemal Bijedić Street near GRAS, and extending further over the IX Transversal.
What drew particular attention is that both the bridge and the roadway are designed with a single lane in each direction, whereas other such longitudinal and transversals are currently being expanded to accommodate the high volume of cars and ongoing urbanization. Furthermore, the expansion of the Southern Longitudinal, from the Hrasno roundabout to the planned future roundabout near the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where the longitudinal and transversal are set to intersect, has not yet begun. Instead of construction progress, it was revealed that the FBiH Government reclassified the Southern Longitudinal as a highway and transferred its jurisdiction to the public company Ceste FBiH.
The V Transversal
Even before the planned VII Transversal, the V Transversal in the Hrasno neighborhood remains incomplete. In June 2005, the Malaysian-Bosnian and Herzegovinian Friendship Bridge was opened. It is currently in poor condition, prompting municipal councilors in Novi Grad Sarajevo to launch initiatives for its reconstruction, yet no work has begun. Although more than 21 years have passed, this transversal was never finalized. Specifically, a section of road roughly one hundred meters long near the Bosmal building, where it is supposed to connect with the Southern Longitudinal, has not been built. The nearly completed roadway is currently used as a parking space.
The Northern Longitudinal
The expansion of the Northern Longitudinal began two decades ago but was never completed. It is currently constructed only from the Railway and Bus Stations to Ložionička Street. The project returned to the public eye when municipal councilors in Novi Grad protested because the latest plans show the route cutting directly through the “Safet Zajko” Center, which they deemed completely unacceptable.
The Sarajevo Bypass
Although the construction of the Sarajevo Bypass is approaching its 18th anniversary, work on the final section from Vlakovo to Mostarsko Raskršće has been abandoned, as N1 previously reported. Neither has the Municipality of Ilidža completed its share of the work, nor does Autoceste FBiH have the funds to finish the project, meaning it will not be completed anytime soon.
Other Projects Remain Incomplete
N1 has previously reported on various other transversals and longitudinal that was never finalized, including the Zero, XII, and VI Transversals, as well as the expansion of Džemala Bijedića Street. There is also the IX Transversal featuring a suspended roundabout. Its construction began back in 2018, but all works have yet to be completed as the installation of pedestrian escalators is still pending.
All of these listed initiatives, along with the urban highway project, which began before the war and of which only the Ciglane Tunnel is currently operational, clearly indicate that instead of introducing new bridges and longitudinal, Sarajevo urgently needs the completion of existing, previously initiated projects. As experts have previously pointed out, the ultimate goal of completing these projects is to reduce traffic congestion, lower air pollution, and properly urbanize these parts of Sarajevo, N1 writes.
