The "General Mihajlo Apostolski" bridge in Skopje is built. It has been standing there for several years, a finished structure meant to connect the Aerodrom and Gazi Baba municipalities.

Except that until now it connected nothing. The public gave it two names - the bridge to nowhere, and the fishing bridge.

This week demolition began on the buildings along the route through Ḱeramidnica, which should finally change that.

How a bridge goes years without a road

Construction started in 2020, under then-mayor Petre Šilegov, as part of the project to extend and widen the ASNOM boulevard. The structure was completed over the following years.

Then it stopped. Not because of construction - because of unresolved property and legal issues and the expropriation of buildings along the route.

So somebody decided to build a bridge before sorting out the ownership of the land that bridge was supposed to lead to. That is an order of operations that repeats here often enough not to surprise anyone, and costs enough that it must not be normalised.

What changed now

Mayor Orce Ǵorǵievski announced that the deadline has passed for residents who have been paid their expropriation in full to move out.

"The practice of the past, where citizens were left without an answer and waited years for payment, is over. The expropriation compensation was paid immediately, and the City helped residents through the process of moving out," he says.

If that is accurate - and the City of Skopje claims some families were helped with the move itself - then that is the part worth noting. Expropriation paid immediately is a different thing from expropriation sitting in a drawer while a person waits.

What is still unresolved

The clearance that has begun concerns the arm toward the "Dojrana" restaurant. The main route toward the "East Gate" shopping centre remains problematic - the expropriation there is unresolved and a large number of court cases are under way.

Ǵorǵievski says the negotiations will be concluded and the expropriation completed by the end of his term.

That is a promise with a deadline, which is more than you usually get. But court proceedings do not end through political will - they last as long as they last, and that is exactly why that section of the boulevard is still an open question rather than an announcement.

The bill

For years a completed bridge stood without a function, while traffic between the two municipalities took the old routes.

When the bridge finally opens, it will be presented as a success. And partly it will be. But the real lesson comes earlier in the story: you build a bridge after securing the land it leads to, not before.