The “Munjo brdo” tunnel in “trial operation” without automatic monitoring: What do the regulations say?
N1 Belgrade, July 2025
Link to the original article: https://n1info.rs/biznis/tunel-munjino-brdo-probni-rad-propisi/
The section of the highway “Miloš Veliki” Pakovraće-Požega will be put into “trial operation” on Sunday, and with it the tunnel Munjino brdo. The opening of the tunnel, without the automatic monitoring that was foreseen in the regulations, is now made possible by the amended Government decree adopted on June 21, but with 24-hour duty – from firefighters, through the police to emergency services. “I, as the most responsible person, claim that it is safe,” said the director of Roads of Serbia, Zoran Drobnjak.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced on Friday that, as reported by FoNet, the Pakovraće-Požega section of the “Miloš Veliki” highway will be opened at noon on Sunday, stating that everything is safe and done according to rules and regulations .
It is a 19.5-kilometer section, and no tolls will be charged for the first few days, Vučić said on Friday in an interview with Pink and Informer.
“We are opening in accordance with all the rules and regulations, we are not inventing anything. It is safe, you will see on Sunday,” said Vučić.
A day earlier, the Insider reported that the opening of the unfinished highway from Pakovrat to Požega, ” despite the fact that one of the tunnels has not established an automatic system for monitoring safety parameters “, was made possible by a new Regulation passed by the Government of Serbia at the session on June 21. According to Insider, that new, amended regulation practically suspended the two regulations on management and safety in tunnels – because it has stronger legal force.
When asked by an Insider journalist why “Roads of Serbia”, as an investor, insisted that the unfinished road be put into trial operation, the director of that company, Zoran Drobnjak, answered that what is not finished can be finished, but in a way that does not affect traffic safety at the same time.
Drobnjak: “I tell you that it is safe. I, as the most responsible, claim that it is safe”.
Journalist: So, citizens should trust you as the director of Roads of Serbia?
Drobnjak: “And they should believe”.
“We have a command center from where the traffic that takes place in the tunnel is controlled… The rulebook is the rulebook, but we have that control center… Well, that’s why it’s a trial run, that’s why the trial run was released. People will be on duty there and when everything passes, when we’ve done everything, they’ll still be there to check that the tunnel is safe. And when that functionality is done, they’ll be there,” explains Zoran Drobnjak.
(Read the entire interview on the Insider website ).
What do the regulations say, and what do the regulations say?
“The central monitoring and control system ( CSNU ) represents elements of hardware, application software of known architecture and defined quality that serves for monitoring, management and collection of measurement and status data of electromechanical, IT equipment and equipment of intelligent transport systems, which monitors and manages the level of safety in the tunnel and the influential zone of the tunnel”, it is stated in the Rulebook on the minimum safety requirements that a tunnel on a public road must meet from the point of view of traffic safety, which has been in force since 2019.
What is this Central Control and Management System for?
Via CSNU, the longitudinal air speed is constantly monitored and the ventilation system (drainage louvres, fans, etc.) is adjusted in accordance with it.
Also, in tunnels longer than 3 km, with a traffic load of more than 2,000 vehicles per day per traffic lane, there must be a control center, and then the supervision and management of all applied systems in the tunnel is performed precisely through CSNU.
According to the second Rulebook on how to manage the tunnel, which has also been in force since 2019, the use of the tunnel is organized in a way that “ensures the continuous and safe flow of traffic through the tunnel, based on the activity plan”.
“The activity plan includes the monitoring of characteristics, maintenance and verification of geomechanical parameters, characteristics of the tunnel’s influential zone, construction structures, electromechanical and other tunnel equipment”, it is stated in this rulebook, and the basis for the creation of activities is exactly – automatically generated data from the central system for monitoring and management of the tunnel CSNU , technical documentation of the tunnel and other available data.
In the new Regulation on the conditions and procedure for establishing a regime of trial operation for road traffic on state roads , which changes the one adopted at the end of 2024 . year, a new article is added which states that ” after the state road is put into trial operation, until the completion of functional testing and the establishment of an automated system for monitoring and traffic management, with the aim of increasing the level of safety and security of state road users”, representatives of certain professional services will be on duty.
Among them are firefighters, who will be on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and they will be hired by the investor, then at least two traffic police patrols, an ambulance, but also ” persons employed by the road manager in the tasks of monitoring and managing traffic in tunnels , administering computer networks and systems, maintaining ITS equipment and fire protection tasks”…;
Technical characteristics of the tunnel
The Munjino brdo tunnel, on the “Miloš Veliki” highway section, is only slightly shorter than 3,000 meters.
The Munjino Brdo tunnel is located on the section of the E-763 “Miloš Veliki” highway, from Pakovrač to Požega, according to the Roads of Serbia website .
It is designed with two tunnel tubes, one for each direction of travel. The length of the left tunnel pipe is 2,755.75m, while the length of the right tunnel pipe is 2,740.14m. The width of the road in the tunnel is 7.70 m.Topics