The last 20-kilometre leg of a new highway stretching from the Croatian seacoast to the Slovenian border was opened for traffic Tuesday, REPORTED DPA. The roadway stretches from the Slovenian border 440 kilometres to the coastal city of Split. Travel for the many tourists coming from western Europe to the Croatian resorts along the Adriatic seacoast would be made faster with the new highway. The construction of the motorway cost 235 million euros (317 million dollars). Austria's largest construction company Strabag controls 51 per cent of the road, while the other 49 per cent belongs to Croatia. A remaining 60 kilometres of road from Split to Makarska is expected to be completed over the next several months. Because of the extremely mountainous terrain, almost one-fifth of the highway is made up of tunnels and bridges. The longest tunnel, Mala Kapela, is 5,780 metres long.
