A consortium led by the Hungarian company Utiber, which previously oversaw the reconstruction of the railway station in Novi Sad, where a tragic incident involving the collapse of a canopy killed fifteen and injured several others, has been awarded the project for designing the right lane of the Subotica bypass. This section of the highway will connect the Subotica-Jug interchange to the Kelebija border crossing.
The contract, valued at just under 95 million dinars (including tax), has been entrusted to a consortium composed of Project Biro Utiber Novi Sad, Utiber Road Investment Budapest, entrepreneur Slaviša Ilić SDC Professional, and Ut Test Budapest. This was reported in a document published on the Public Procurement Portal.
Another consortium, consisting of AG Institute Novi Sad and the Traffic Institute CIP, also participated in the tender but their offer was rejected as it was approximately 10 million dinars more expensive.
The E75 highway section from the Kelebija border crossing to the Subotica-Jug interchange, also known as the “Ipsilon Branch” or the Subotica bypass, is about 24 kilometers long. It connects the Kelebija border crossing with the Horgoš-Novi Sad highway.
In March 2022, the Serbian government declared this highway a vital infrastructure, transport, and economic route for both the city of Subotica and Serbia.
So far, the left lane of the highway has been constructed, extending from the Kelebija border crossing to the Subotica-Jug interchange, in the form of a motorway. Intersections with main and local roads in the Subotica area have been resolved by constructing bridges or roundabouts.
According to the project, where bridges have been built over local roads along the bypass, similar solutions are to be applied to the future right lane of the highway extending to Kelebija, as reported by Beta.
Instead of the current roundabouts connecting the bypass to the Sombor and Žednik roads, the project calls for the design of two new interchanges: “Bajmok” and “Verušić.” However, the plan does not specify how traffic will be managed on the existing main roads leading to Sombor and Žednik, where these roundabouts currently operate.
For the roundabout near Bikovo, the project plan includes the construction of overpasses above the Ipsilon Branch and the Horgoš-Novi Sad highway.
Additionally, the design includes the relocation and demolition of the existing toll booth as part of the integration of the new right lane of the future section of the highway between the Subotica-Jug interchange and Kelebija with the existing Horgoš–Belgrade highway.
