By: Spletni časopis
The Jesenice railway station, which will be built by Janez Škrabec’s company Riko for over one hundred million euros – even after the latest “tender opening” – is a symbol of the transport achievements of a government made up of parties that believe expanding the number of highway lanes is a mistake, since expansions generate additional traffic and thereby more problems. These same parties also work hard on the railway system, particularly focusing on passenger stations – while making sure there are not too many of them.
And there are not. Not to mention the highway tunnel that our neighbours had almost finished drilling while we were still arguing over who would build it.
How “good” we are was summed up by Peter Hrastelj, who pointed out that Croatia, ahead of the tourist season, had already completed all maintenance work on over 400 kilometres of road between Obrežje and Split. This clearly shows they do not know what they are doing – after all, that way they will not keep tourists lingering on highways and in the nearby towns. We are better at it, added economist Matej Lahovnik, noting that here, highway renovations proceed more slowly than the Romans built their roads. On top of that, we are able to charge a DARS toll sticker for speeds from the time of Maria Theresa – thanks to the ruling Gibanje Svoboda party’s successful capture of DARS.
The more cynical might say we are lucky they do not charge us for the time we spend standing still. Stops and stations clearly cost a lot, as shown by the Jesenice case. But there has been major progress on the Štajerska highway. The traffic jams have moved—from the Slovenska Bistrica area, where construction lasted a long time, to the Slovenske Konjice area, where it will now last a long time.
And if you think renovations mean additional lanes, you are in the wrong country.
There has, however, been a great success on the railways: it is now occasionally faster to get from Maribor to Ljubljana by train than by car on the highway.
And on the Primorska highway, we are often not far from that either – without even a second track.
Even in Japan, they barely manage such feats.