|
Post by David r on Aug 7, 2005 17:30:49 GMT 1
I am incredibly disappointed at the new ahem motorway; if that's a motorway I am a Japanese opera singer.
On Friday I left Zagreb at 10am I arrived at my destination Zaboric (close to Sibenik) at 6.30 pm. Why? The reason is because Croatia actually only has a motorway when the weather is perfect. The bridge at Sveti Rock was closed which resulted in a four hour stand still. In 5 hours I moved 8 km’s.
There were strong winds that day and several high sided vehicles were blown over, incidentally it didn’t top Mesic and his entourage speeding across the bridge whilst thousands of us mere mortals sat for hours waiting.
Firstly before four high sided vehicles tipped, the bridge should have been closed to high sided vehicles Secondly if the bridge is in an area too windy for cars to cross why on earth did they build a bridge there? Surely cars could have passed across at a reduced speed.
Thirdly if when the bridge closes the only option is to detour all the vehicles through some god forsaken place using roads that would make a spinning top dizzy, why was only one toll booth open there? The whole delay was caused by the tolls inability to get the traffic off the road, why can’t Croatia have the electronic toll booths for local users, like everywhere else Slovenia has them.
Fourthly if this bridge is known problem area, there should be a reasonable detour not a 150 km detour with no way back onto the highway.
Also on this “motorway” Petrol stations are at a premium, I know for a fact that is down to ina. Many many foreigners ran out of fuel on the long and winding road, again if this is the official detour road, there should be petrol stations there.
Today I came back, and was devastated to hear on the radio that there are again problems due to strong winds. What annoyed me was not the 30 min standstill I encountered it was the fact that the wind story was a lie, the delay was caused by a huge bottleneck which is the result of the fact that two tunnels on the highway are not actually finished, a 20km of the motorway is actually one lane and this 20km’s takes around 1 hour to pass.
Finally coming back into Zagreb, the last 5 km’s took another 45mins-1hour why oh why can we not have electronic toll booths for locals? The vast majority of users are Croatian and it would save a lot of time. 137 kunas from Zagreb to Split is too much. Especially when my car is running on the terrible Ina fuel, Ina fuel lowers my fuel efficeny by 10% the only good petrol in Croatia is Tifon. DO not use Ina fuel unless you have to, everybody in Croatia other than Tiffon carries Ina fuel.
Sorry for the negativity but, that’s how I feel the motorway in busy periods takes longer than the coast road. What a waste of money and effort.
|
|
irac2
New Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by irac2 on Aug 8, 2005 11:22:27 GMT 1
David, I feel your pain, but you at least weren't in the epicentre of the stupidity on Friday. My 15 minute drive to work took over 90 minutes after detours along roads that even goats were falling off! But at least Zaboric is beautiful and the weather was good, but the motorway, while good in parts, is not even approaching the free flow of the inner highway, and even being slowed on the coast road is better! Next time drive inland, you'll make it a lot quicker! www.hiberno-knin.com
|
|
|
Post by David r on Aug 8, 2005 19:10:02 GMT 1
David, I feel your pain, but you at least weren't in the epicentre of the stupidity on Friday. My 15 minute drive to work took over 90 minutes after detours along roads that even goats were falling off! But at least Zaboric is beautiful and the weather was good, but the motorway, while good in parts, is not even approaching the free flow of the inner highway, and even being slowed on the coast road is better! Next time drive inland, you'll make it a lot quicker! www.hiberno-knin.comI feel your pain too, but I still think my 8.5 hour drives scores more points than your 90mins drive ;D I was still for 4 hours. Judge ruling somebody, surely I win?
|
|
|
Post by elaine on Aug 9, 2005 14:23:38 GMT 1
Typical blokes!! Mine's longer than yours!!
|
|
croam
Full Member
Posts: 71
|
Post by croam on Aug 24, 2005 16:53:29 GMT 1
david r.-- too bad you failed to mention that there was a bura(wind) blowing so strong that it was blowing over semi trucks and recreational vehicles. Blame croatians and the new motorhighway for the freak wind(nature). hahahaha. i love how objective some people are on here.
here's my addition: croatia sucks cuz it rained on the days i was there so don't visit.
i took a bus from zagreb to split on the new highway and made it in 5 hrs including a 15 min stop.
it used to take all day and a car would have cut it down to 4 hrs. come to the US and drive on a bridge or highway during a hurricane and tell me how bad the bridges and highways are and blame it on stupid americans.
|
|
croam
Full Member
Posts: 71
|
Post by croam on Aug 24, 2005 16:56:47 GMT 1
the wind story was a lie? yeah dude it was conspiracy to make you late to your meeting dude. I WAS THERE!!!! I SAW TRUCKS KNOCKED OVER FROM THE WIND ON THE NEWS. which dave of course will attest they faked....it was a CIA and Croatian Secret Police Conspiracy.
The Highway is great....compared to what they had before. its a huge improvement and barring any FREAKS OF NATURE it is great! unless you are a paranoid schiz like dave in which case everything bad in croatia will be a conspiracy against you.
|
|
|
Post by No TanLines on Aug 24, 2005 19:30:57 GMT 1
the wind story was a lie? yeah dude it was conspiracy to make you late to your meeting dude. I WAS THERE!!!! I SAW TRUCKS KNOCKED OVER FROM THE WIND ON THE NEWS. which dave of course will attest they faked....it was a CIA and Croatian Secret Police Conspiracy. The Highway is great....compared to what they had before. its a huge improvement and barring any FREAKS OF NATURE it is great! unless you are a paranoid schiz like dave in which case everything bad in croatia will be a conspiracy against you. They are going to tell you that you are American and that you have no knowledge of Croatia. I have been reading the posts that these guys have been posting in debate and discussion. It is trully sickening. They all think they know better than everybody else. I saw the post one idiot said about you being in America. Well I am Croatian-American I think I have more say than someone that lives in Croatia and is not Croatian who wants to dictate their beliefs and policies on the Croatian people. Shame on them. Shame on them for coming into a country and trying to dictate their way of living on others in the name of saving a country. It sounds a bit like our President Bush on Iraq. These people are no better than President Bush. Pushing their policy & lifestyle on people with their high and mighty intentions of saving the country. I find that very vain and very selfserving. Croam. I agree with a lot of the your posts. I was born in Croatia but left very early. I live in the U.S. My Mother & Father are both Croatian. Most of our family still live in Croatia. I go as often as I can back to Croatia. The fact that I live in the USA does not make me or anyone else ignorant of the facts of what is going on in Croatia nor what took place in Croatia in the past. My family did not lose their memory of hardship & pain of living in Yugoslavia when the plane landed in the U.S airport. We know what is going on with our homeland and to say we don't is glupppppp!
|
|
croam
Full Member
Posts: 71
|
Post by croam on Aug 24, 2005 20:47:55 GMT 1
thanks!!! very refreshing. its like you or I going to china and believing we know whats going on around us when we don't speak chinese.
|
|
croam
Full Member
Posts: 71
|
Post by croam on Aug 24, 2005 20:50:44 GMT 1
"Shame on them for coming into a country and trying to dictate their way of living on others in the name of saving a country. "
shouldn't expect any different from brits. they've always enjoyed colonization. can't blame them i like the sun and the sea too. but since they like the serbian king so much, and the EU, they can go to Belgrade on vacation and swim in the muddy Danube. They already chose sides.
|
|
|
Post by Vedran on Aug 24, 2005 20:55:11 GMT 1
The new A1 motorway is the best I have ever seen in Europe.
|
|
|
Post by jackal on Aug 24, 2005 21:34:03 GMT 1
"Shame on them for coming into a country and trying to dictate their way of living on others in the name of saving a country. " shouldn't expect any different from brits. they've always enjoyed colonization. can't blame them i like the sun and the sea too. but since they like the serbian king so much, and the EU, they can go to Belgrade on vacation and swim in the muddy Danube. They already chose sides. Unfortunately for you croam, its because we married croatians. Love conquers all.
|
|
midge
Full Member
Posts: 89
|
Post by midge on Aug 24, 2005 21:39:52 GMT 1
lol
|
|
croam
Full Member
Posts: 71
|
Post by croam on Aug 24, 2005 22:46:15 GMT 1
good for you! your lucky men!
|
|
|
Post by mambo on Aug 24, 2005 23:23:02 GMT 1
David,
Since when is a storm representative for the highway during the whole year ? You never have hurricanes in Florida ? 'I was driving in Georgia, on my way to Miami, and the road was closed ! Had to travel 48 hours along roads that you cannot even call roads to get to Miami, in fact I could not even get there, since they closed all roads. And this is the US ?'
That would be about the same reaction that you wrote here.
I drive the road to Zadar and Split on a regular basis and I love it. Nowhere in Europe do they build you a 4-lane highway competely for you ! I took pictures of the road, completely empty both ways while I was doing 180 km/u. Can you name me any country where you can do that?
David,
If the US is so perfect for you.................why don't you move overthere ?
|
|
|
Post by irac on Aug 25, 2005 7:26:51 GMT 1
Nowhere in Europe do they build you a 4-lane highway competely for you ! I took pictures of the road, completely empty both ways while I was doing 180 km/u. Can you name me any country where you can do that?Mambo, no need to be nasty Just because the road seems empty doesn't mean it's not useful, or that the planning of it wasn't a mess. Croam, the contract for the road was such an underhanded deal that the reasoning behind it's exact location is ridiculous. It was thought that by running it (quite beautifully in places) close to the sea would enhance the drive, only the nature of the ground and weather conditions were going to cause problems in the short and long term. It is a beautiful drive in parts, almost as good as some of the roads in southern turkey, but because of poor planning it is going to cause problems, and it seems a lot of people knew about it in advance as the inalnd roads have increased in volume since it's opening (not good for the travellers or towns). Price is subjective, it cost nothing to travel in Serbia on a highway that needed resurfacing badly, while over the border in Bulgaria the new "motorway" is a disgrace. The A1 wouldn't, in my experience, be the best or most beautiful in Europe, but it's handy for coastal dwellers, when it's not windy of course.
|
|