Bulgaria powers ahead with road construction

Road construction is developing apace in Bulgaria, with four stretches of motorway due for completion this summer, according to market research and consulting company PMR.

PMR said Bulgarian regional development minister Ekaterina Zaharieva confirmed that Lot 4 of the Trakia motorway, between Yambol and Karnobat, should be fully operational on 1 July, 2013.

This means that the 360kmTrakia motorway, which will connect Bulgaria’s capital Sofia with Burgas and the Black Sea, via Plovdiv, is almost complete.

Furthermore, two 8km stretches of the Hemus motorway are also set to be completed in July. The first is an 8km stretch between the Sofia bypass and the village of Yana and the second 8km stretch runs between Shumen and Belokopitovo.

The overall length of the Hemus motorway is planned to be 433km, and it will eventually link Sofia to Varna and the Black Sea.

Meanwhile, the first, 17km stretch of the Struma motorway, running between Dupnitsa and Dolna Dikanya, is also scheduled for completion this summer.

The Sturma motorway is planned to be 156km long and will continue the Lyulin motorway which leads from Sofia to Pernik onwards to Blagoevgrad in the south and the Greek border.

PMR also said that Bulgaria’s Road Infrastructure Agency chief, Lazar Lazarov, has pledged that by the end of 2013, part of the Maritsa motorway – a 34km stretch between Dimitrovgrad and Harmanli – will be up and running.

The Marista motorway is planned to be 114km in total, and forms part of Pan-European corridor IV, connecting Central Europe to Asia. The motorway will link the towns of Chirpan and Kapitan Andreevo at the Turkish border.