Jadranska Avenue

"Adriatic Avenue" redirects here. For the Adriatic coast scenic route, see Adriatic Highway.

{{Infobox road/shieldmain/|province=¬|state=Croatia|type=Road|county=|route=|subtype=}} {{Infobox road/name/|province=¬|state=Croatia|type=Road|subtype=|route={{{route}}}|county=}}
Maintained by Zagrebačke ceste d.d.
Length	5.5 km (3.4 mi)
Existed	1970–present
Major intersections	Remetinečki Gaj Street in Lanište Remetinec Road and University Hospital accessway near Blato (at-grade) Karlovačka Road near Lučko
Counties	City of Zagreb

Jadranska Avenue (Croatian: Jadranska avenija, literally: Adriatic Sea Avenue) is a mostly six-lane controlled-access avenue in the Novi Zagreb – zapad city district of southwestern Zagreb, Croatia. Legally designated as part of County Route Ž1040, it runs between the Western Rotary and Zagreb bypass, acting as an important throughfare both for commuters from southwestern suburbs of Lučko and Stupnik and for travellers coming to the city by A1 highway. The avenue experiences high amounts of seasonal traffic in summer resulting in traffic jams sometimes spanning the whole length of the avenue. The daily traffic has also been rising in recent years due to former bedroom communities in Zagreb County from the 1990s becoming new outer suburbs in the 2000s. Novi Zagreb neighborhoods Blato, Botinec and Lanište are located directly south of the avenue. The intersection with Lanište Road was recently converted into an interchange.

Route description

Jadranska Avenue, the approach toward the Western Rotary

The six-lane Jadranska Avenue can be accessed from inner city by the means of the Western Rotary in Remetinec, south of Kajzerica and Tromostovlje. The three- to four-lane rotary also features entrances from Remetinec Road, Dubrovnik Avenue and the grade-separated Adriatic Bridge accessway. Nearby surface streets to the north can be accessed by the means of RIRO interchanges on the bridge accessway, but a westbound one-way ramp near the local Billa supermarket and McDonald's restaurant provides access from Kajzerica and Tromostovlje to the avenue.

Jadranska Avenue continues by lightly curving in a southwest direction away from the center of Novi Zagreb. Approximately 800 meters (0.5 mi) from the eastern terminus, the avenue intersects Remetinčki Gaj Street at a diamond interchange. The four-lane street continues south to provide access to the neighborhood of Lanište and Arena Zagreb. The northern leg of the interchange has not been built yet as of 2008, but it is meant to provide access to the planned Savski Park luxury high-rise cluster, which will be finished by 2011. The urban planning department of Zagreb foresaw a new bridge over Sava carrying new Črnomerec Street.

Bridge over the Sava-Odra floodwater canal

After the interchange, the roadway widens to eight lanes. A gas station opened in February 2008 and owned by OMV Croatia is open 24 hours a day and offers a convenience store 600 m (660 yd) westbound from the Remetinčki Gaj Street interchange. Directly west of the gas station, the Remetinec Road (extended in 2008) runs southward to provide access to western partss of Lanište through the Jarušćica Street and to Blato through the Karlovac Road, while an unsigned access road (officially Local Route L10054) leads north to the University Hospital. This intersection is the only at-grade intersection of Jadranska Avenue.

The avenue continues along a straight line trailing the northern border of Blato for another 2 kilometers (1.2 mi) before bridging the Sava-Odra floodwater canal by the means of a 435 m (1,427 ft) long viaduct. After the bridge, the road enters a collector/distributor road setup, which accompanies it through the last few interchanges. Two RIROs provide entry and exit to the Karlovac Road in Blato, Lučko, Hrvatski Leskovac and the Brezovica city district. Immediately thereafter, the Lučko stack interchange with the Zagreb bypass is located.

Noise barriers are installed between the Western Rotary and Remetinečki Gaj Street interchange, and at the Lučko interchange.

History

Jadranska Avenue was conceived as an expressway approach for the Zagreb–Karlovac highway (today part of A1), the first highway in Croatia. Together with the Karlovac expressway, its construction cost 110 million Yugoslav dinars. It was built in 1972 as an extension of Dubrovnik Avenue (then called Boris Kidrič Avenue after the eponymous Yugoslav political figure) and it spanned from the Dubrovnik Avenue and Adriatic Bridge intersection to the old Lučko Interchange, without any exits. The avenue was 28 meters (92 ft) wide and had three traffic lanes in each direction, similar to the A1 lane setup, which also features a 28-meter pavement with three lanes in each direction, but one of them is marked as a hard shoulder. At the time, the Zagreb bypass was in planning stages and the Lučko Interchange only provided access to Lučko and the old Karlovac Road through two RIROs (still used today) and the large stack interchange was built and opened for traffic as late as 1979. Like most Croatian highways, the expressway was planned with a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour (75 mph) in mind.