The spokesman of the UN Mission police, Larry Miller, said the bridge will be opened for car traffic gradually and should be fully operational by July 18. Until now the bridge could be crossed only on foot.
KFOR patrols will be in the vicinity of the bridge which since 1999 divides Mitrovica into the majority Serb north part and the Albanian-populated south. Since then the bridge has been the site of open inter-ethnic conflicts which claimed the lives of a number of civilians. The worst clashes occurred over two days in March 2004, during anti-Serb violence all over the UN administered province.