Foto: Index/123rf/Google Maps/Pixsell/Hrvoje Jelavić

SINCE the 1st of July, driving on already overpriced Croatian highways is going to become even more expensive. Instead of becoming as cheap as possible and therefore more available to Croatian citizens and numerous tourists visiting our country, these highways have become an end in themselves. In a country such as Croatia, where tourism is the most important branch of economy, the raising of highway prices has two effects: feeding the crooks who live on taxpayers’ money and rejecting tourists who, unlike the crooks, are really contributing to the entire country.

Specifically, the very construction of the highways is burdened with a series of corruption scandals. For example, the tunnels were painted several times, without any need, and that cost hundreds of millions of kunas.

Through the “We are not giving away our motorways” initiative, Croatian citizens decided they do not want to hand over the highways to concessioners and instead opted for keeping them in ownership of the State. Therefore, the burden that cost billions of kunas, and which keeps on growing, continued to rest on the backs of the citizens.

One of the reasons why Hrvatske autoceste (Croatian Highways) are such an expensive and inefficient company is the enormous number of people hired via political ties. The money that is spent for their salaries continues to drain taxpayer money.

New pricelist

According to the new pricelist applicable from the July 1, 2017, the 10% toll increase is related to the following sections: A1 Zagreb-Dugopolje, A1 Zagreb-Karamatići (Ploče), A1 Zagreb-Karlovac, A1-A6 Zagreb-Rijeka (Grobnik), A4 Zagreb-Goričan, A3 Zagreb-Lipovac, A3-A5 Zagreb- Osijek, A11 Mraclin-Lekenik, Bregana, Sveti Ilija Tunnel and Krk Bridge.

A single road section is more expensive than driving in Europe for an entire year

The prices have become so arrogantly high that on some routes they are higher than the prices of yearly vignettes in some European countries.

European countries recognize the potential related to fast and effective traffic, so they adjusted the prices of their roads accordingly. In Romania, the price of the yearly vignette amounts to 28 euros. In Switzerland, a country which is all but cheap, you can drive on a highway for an entire year for 37.42 euros.

In Bulgaria, the price of the yearly driving through the entire country amounts to 50 euros, just as is the case in Slovakia.

In comparison, the price of driving from Zagreb to Split is 26.81 euros. This means that a single trip from Zagreb to Split and back will cost you the same as Bulgarians and Slovaks pay for driving on all highways, through the entire country, in an entire year.

In the Czech Republic, the yearly vignette costs 55.51 euros, while in Austria the cost of the vignette amounts to 86.40 euros.

Besides, the fuel price is also not negligible and it is considerably more expensive to drive on the highway.

The toll price increase is justified by the claim that "the Croatian road sector is riddled by high debt and unable to pay its credit obligations." In translation – the highways are in debt, so we will take the money from citizens and foreign tourists.

Alternative routes and natural attractions

Therefore, we found alternative routes for all tourists on highway sections with increased prices. If you need directions for arriving to your designated destination and you do not want to pay a high price for it, you can find the directions for doing so in this article.

Besides, while driving on cost-free routes which we enumerate, you have the possibility to get acquainted with numerous Croatian natural attractions. Croatia has eight national parks and 11 nature parks. When driving to the seaside, among other things, you can visit Plitvice Lakes, Paklenica or Risnjak (click for instructions).

By clicking on a small map, a larger version will open with route details.

We will describe the most common route, Zagreb-Split, in detail.

Highway A1 Zagreb - Split

Instead of paying minimally 200 kunas for driving from Lučko to Dugopolje, on the 379-kilometer route, choose an alternative route for 0 kunas.

You will drive approximately 5 hours and 35 minutes by selecting the D1 road. The length of the route is 357 kilometers.

In Zagreb, exit on the Jadranska Avenue. Then follow the road for 1.7 kilometers until you reach the Brezovička Road, Brezovička Street, Grančarska Street, Kraljevečki Bregi Street, and Bregana Pisarovinska in order to arrive, after 24.3 kilometers, to the Karlovačka Street in Pisarovina.

Then drive from Donja Kupčina to Blatnica Pokupska for 15. 2 kilometers. Continue to Cerovac Vukmanići for another 17.9 kilometers. On D1, drive for 288 kilometers until you reach the exit to Split.