Konavle border crossing jam threatens summer traffic in Croatia

A traffic collapse over the weekend paralysed the Konavle region in southern Croatia. At the Karasovići border crossing with Montenegro, queues stretched up to 15 hours along the Adriatic highway, prompting intervention by emergency services, firefighters and civil‑protection units.

Official figures show that on Sunday nearly 40,000 people and more than 12,000 vehicles entered Montenegro through the Karasovići (Debeli Brijeg) and nearby Kobila crossings. The surge reflects heavy tourist flow to Dubrovnik and large numbers of Albanian and Kosovar diaspora travelling from Western Europe via the southern corridor.

Traffic expert Željko Marušić warned that the planned contact‑less toll‑collection system, slated for early next year, could increase highway throughput but exacerbate congestion at the narrow border bottleneck. Local official Božo Lasić echoed the concern, noting limited capacity of both the Croatian crossing and Montenegrin road network, and saying that adding extra lanes would not fully resolve the issue. He called for coordinated infrastructure improvements between Croatia and Montenegro.