D8 road (Croatia)

D8 state road
Route information
Part of
Length	643.1 km (399.6 mi)
Major junctions
From	Slovenian G7 road at Pasjak border crossing
Major intersections	A7 in Rupa and Jurdani interchanges A8 in Opatija junction D40 near Bakar D23 in Senj A1 in Maslenica and Posedarje interchanges D1 in Split D413 and D513 in Ploče D9 in Opuzen D223 near Dubrovnik
To	M-1 Montenegrin M-1 road at Karasovići border crossing
Location
Country	Croatia
Counties	Primorje-Gorski Kotar, Lika-Senj, Zadar, Šibenik-Knin, Split-Dalmatia, Dubrovnik-Neretva
Major cities	Rijeka, Senj, Zadar, Šibenik, Trogir, Split, Makarska, Ploče, Dubrovnik
Highway system
Highways in Croatia

The D8 state road is the Croatian section of the Adriatic Highway, running from the Slovenian border at Pasjak via Rijeka, Senj, Zadar, Šibenik, Split, Opuzen, and Dubrovnik to the border with Montenegro at Karasovići.^{[maps 1][1]} Most of the D8 state road remains single carriageway, though with some dual carriageway stretches. The total length of the road through Croatia is 643.1 kilometres (399.6 mi).^[2]

Until recently, the road was the primary route connecting the Adriatic coastal parts of Croatia. Since the 2000s, multilane motorways have taken over most of its traffic, and yet more motorways are still being built along the coast. The motorways parallel to the road are the A7 (Rupa border crossing – Rijeka – Sveti Kuzam), A6 (Rijeka – Bosiljevo) and A1 (Zagreb – Bosiljevo – Zadar – Split – Ploče), sections of the proposed Adriatic–Ionian motorway.^[3] Since the D8 closely follows the well-indented Croatian coastline, travel is considerably longer and less safe compared to the motorways because of numerous blind curves and at-grade intersections. The D8 is still popular as an alternative to the tolled motorways, so the road carries fairly constant traffic during most of the year. The traffic intensifies in the summer, because of substantial traffic to tourist destinations.

The section from Rijeka to Senj experiences heavy traffic in particular because many motorists are unwilling to take the longer route along A6 and A1. This problem used to be exacerbated before 2009 when A6 still had slow semi-highway parts on the Rijeka–Bosiljevo route. This section will remain congested at peak times until eventual completion of the A7 motorway between Rupa and Žuta Lokva.

Since the parallel A1 motorway ends near Ploče, southbound A1 traffic generally switches to the D8 state road.

Originally, the D8 road terminated 30 km (20 mi) after Ploče, at the Klek border crossing to Bosnia and Herzegovina, as the Adriatic Highway route runs across a tiny strip of Bosnia and Herzegovina territory around the town of Neum, and then resumed after reentering Croatia at Zaton Doli border crossing.

Following the building of the Pelješac Bridge in July 2022, and the Ston bypass in April 2023, the D8 was rerouted and it no longer goes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but goes across the bridge, adding 4 kilometers to the length. The section from the northern entrance of the bridge to the border crossing at Klek is now renumbered D236, and the section from the southern bridge entrance road (and Ston bypass) to the Zaton Doli border crossing is now renumbered D237.^[4] The opening of the Ston bypass allowed buses, heavy trucks, and trucks carrying hazardous materials to use the bridge.

In Komarna, at the Duboka interchange, the road becomes an expressway as it enters the Pelješac bridge, the old D8 going to the border is now D236. Since the bridge section is an expressway, pedestrians, bicycles and mopeds are not allowed on it and are still required to go through Bosnia and Herzegovina. The bridge crosses to the Pelješac peninsula at Brijesta, where 2 km (1.2 mi) down the expressway comes the Brijesta interchange. 7 km (4.3 mi) from Brijesta, the road crosses with the old D414 at Zaradeže interchange (the section going to Zaton Doli has since been demoted to county road). 12 km (7.5 mi) from Zaradeže, the road crosses with D416 at Prapratno interchage. 7 km (4.3 mi) from Prapratno, the road rejoins the old D8 (the section to the border now bearing the designation D237) and the expressway status ends, as the road continues running to Dubrovnik along the coastline. East of Dubrovnik the road passes by Dubrovnik Airport and reaches the border with Montenegro at the Karasovići border crossing.^[1]

The D8 is the longest state road in Croatia at 643.1 km (399.6 mi). Following the rerouting over the Pelješac bridge, the length extended by 4.5 km (2.8 mi).

The road, as well as all other state roads in Croatia, is managed and maintained by Hrvatske ceste, a state-owned company.^[5]

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