Feasibility Study for priority bypasses on the Montenegrin Coast

Due to the increased traffic volumes over the past years, significant congestion problems were detected along the SEETO Route 1, as well as at border crossings/transit with Croatia and Albania. The existing topographic conditions did not allow adjusting the existing road dimensions to the increased required capacity. In 2007, the Government of Montenegro launched the “program for Elimination of Bottlenecks” which included, among other projects, the construction of the three priority bypasses.

Within the above framework and within the project scope, the feasibility study was prepared in two different Stages:

Stage 1: Review of the existing projects and designs, and a careful review of the current planning documentation for each of the sections. The review included the assessment of the technical, socioeconomic, financial, environmental and social factors and other basic information in order to determine if each of the potential bypass sections was feasible and viable from the technical, economic and environmental/social perspectives and identify one priority bypass as the most efficient investment on base of the outcomes. Stage 1 also included a traffic study (site surveys, transport demand forecasts for future target years), an economic evaluation for the bypasses, as well as preliminary environmental and social assessment

Stage 2: Draft Preliminary Design for the identified priority section. Based on the existing general design and the Stage 1 findings, the Study Team carried out topographical, geotechnical, geological and hydrological surveys and inventories of networks and utilities, and based on this evidence, the draft preliminary engineering design, the detailed bankable feasibility study and a draft ESIA were prepared.