A new £2.34bn future motorway that will cross nearly 100 bridges spaning over 277 miles is under construction in eastern Europe.

The mega motorway project plans to connect the Serbian capital of Belgrade with the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, and Bar, Montenegro’s main seaport, as well as Bari in Italy and Budapest in Hungary via Belgrade.

It is part of European transport Corridor XI, a ferry/motorway corridor linking Italy’s Bari to Romania’s Bucharest via the port of Bar and Serbia’s Belgrade.

Consisting of 100 bridges and 50 tunnels the Bar-Boljare motorway is being constructed over mountains.

There is no record of any roadway project anywhere with so many complex elements built in challenging terrain, according to BMI.

From the Serbian side, the road’s construction began in 2012 and from the Montenegrin side, the road’s construction began on May 11, 2015. However, it is unclear when the project will be completed.

It was initally anticipated that the Montenegrin part would take 48 months to complete. However, after 48 months the motorway was not finished due to harsh terrain, and was further slowed due to covid.

After seven years of construction, the first section was completed. Although it was not opened for vehicles at first because of the reconstruction of regional road.

In July 2022, Montenegro opened the first section of the motorway, the 25-mile Smokovac-Matesevo stretch, which was built by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).

The motorway is envisioned as a local link as much as a transit link, connecting southwestern Serbia with Belgrade and the European road network.

The project has became the subject of controversy as in 2021 revelations revealed that loan agreements between China and Montenegro to finance the project had been the result of corruption.

This meant that the terms of the agreement made it unrealistic that Montenegro would be able to meet its obligations under the deal.

In January 2024, the Montenegrin Government opened a tender for the preparation of a preliminary design for the construction of the third section.