Skopje's „Boris Trajkovski” boulevard is allegedly entering its final stretch. Kisela Voda mayor Orce Gjorgjievski has stated that work is progressing at a pace that means completion will come before the end of 2026, at a solid price tag of 2 million euros.

For the more than 100,000 residents of Dračevo, Studeničani and the surrounding settlements, this is infrastructure they've been waiting for over 30 years. As it stands, getting into Skopje through this junction means routine heavy traffic, narrow roads with no dedicated lanes for bikes or pedestrians, and constant waiting at uncoordinated traffic lights. The new boulevard is supposed to fix all of that.

What do we actually get? According to the plans: new stormwater drainage with pipes from 300 to 800 millimetres in diameter, pedestrian and cycling paths, and a four-lane road with all the modern safety features. The works are at around 88 percent completion, with the remaining 12 percent covering three or four structures that should be finished within the next 10 days.

As with every Macedonian infrastructure story, you should bring your scepticism. Deadlines announced before elections or holidays have a habit of slipping afterwards. The quality of the finished work is often dubious - contractors who win tenders know that follow-up inspections are rare.

Work is also under way at Momin Potok and on the Ljubljanska bridge. These are two pinch points that turned Skopje's traffic into chaos this year - one would open just as the other closed. Coordination between the projects has been more ad hoc than planned, which shows that the City of Skopje still has no systematic approach to managing urban infrastructure.

For the 100,000 residents of Dračevo and the surrounding areas, nothing matters more than quick and reliable access to the capital. If Gjorgjievski delivers, it will be a major achievement. If the project ends up with „budget expansions” or „newly discovered technical obstacles” - as happens with many Skopje projects - it will be the same old Macedonian story: infrastructure spending that never finishes where it started.