Getting from Dubrovnik to its airport has long meant a slow slog along a congested stretch of coast road, often clogged with tour buses and rental cars in summer. That could change: Croatian Roads has presented a proposed route for a new fast road linking the city with Dubrovnik Ruđer Bošković Airport, and the project is now moving towards an environmental impact assessment.
The route was unveiled at a working meeting at Dubrovnik-Neretva County headquarters, attended by Croatian Roads management board president Ivica Budimir along with county and local officials. The planned alignment would start in Osojnik and head towards the airport in Čilipi, descending to a bridge over the Rijeka Dubrovačka inlet. It would then skirt around Dubrovnik on the northern side of Mount Srđ, where a new interchange would provide the main link into the city. From there the road would pass Orsula and run above Župa dubrovačka, threading between built-up areas and the border with Bosnia and Herzegovina before reaching the airport — and continuing on towards Gruda in the Konavle region.
Construction is planned in stages, and officials were careful to point out that the existing state road will still need repairs while the new route is developed. County Prefect Blaž Pezo described the project as a priority and said the county and Croatian Roads had spent the past year working on the alignment. Notably, no construction timetable or total cost has been announced yet, so this is progress on paper rather than machines on the ground.
For travellers, the significance is straightforward: Dubrovnik is one of Europe's most popular summer destinations, and its airport handled record passenger numbers in recent years despite being connected to the city by a single ageing road along a dramatic but traffic-prone coastline. A faster link would cut transfer times, take pressure off local villages, and make day trips to the Konavle countryside — an underrated corner of wine and food country — much easier. It would also improve access for anyone driving up the coast towards the Pelješac area or beyond.
The catch is timing. With an environmental assessment still to come and no funding figures attached, this road is years away from carrying anyone's suitcase. If you're flying into Dubrovnik in the next few summers, expect the current road and the usual peak-season queues to remain part of the experience — the local Libertas buses and private transfers will still be inching along the coast.
Still, for anyone who loves Dubrovnik but dreads the airport run, this is a story worth keeping an eye on. A quicker, smoother transfer would remove one of the few genuine irritations of visiting one of the Adriatic's headline cities.
