Minister Shishkov: Bulgaria needs 2100 km of strategic road sections

Next week we are launching the Shumen - Belokopitovo section of the Hemus Motorway

“Bulgaria needs 2100 km of strategic road sections to have a normal road network. So far only about 870 km have been built. The reason for this is the lack of strategy and conceptual thinking for the development of the country’s regions.”

This was said by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works architect Ivan Shishkov. He presented an analysis of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and the Road Infrastructure Agency on the state of the country’s highways and the vision for their completion and development of the road network. Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Zahari Hristov, Chairperson of the Management Board of the RIA Engineer Ivo Ivanov and Engineer Desislava Paunova - member of the Management Board of the RIA also participated in the press conference.

The road sections built by 2000 were just over 324 km or 15.43% of the motorways, the analysis shows. And from 2000 to 2010 only 140 km or 6.66% were built. Since 2010, a total of 405 km or 19.33% have been built, including 116 km of the Trakia Motorway, 30 km of the Hemus Motorway, 123 km of the Struma Motorway, 71 km of the Maritsa Motorway and 33 km of the Europa Motorway, 12 km of the Montana Bypass, and two sections of the Sofia Ring Road.

The conclusion of the analysis is that we have not built more than half of the motorways that should have been built 10 years ago, the minister said. He said the condition in terms of kilometres and coverage of highways in the country was extremely unsatisfactory. “We are extremely behind the times,” architect Shishkov was adamant.

Currently, 186 km or 8.86% are under construction, the analysis of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works also shows. These are sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Hemus Motorway, 17 km of the Struma Motorway, 14.5 km of the Europa Motorway and 87 km of the Vidin-Botevgrad road. Only about 229 km of road sections or 10.9% are project ready. These are parts of the road Vidin - Botevgrad, of the autobahn “Ruse - Veliko Tarnovo”, “Hemus” and “Europe”, the last being the most problematic section in time, welded by the team of architect Shishkov. For the remaining to be built part of it from Slivnitsa to the Northern Expressway of Sofia this week is to be approved detailed development plan.

The Detailed Development Plan and the conceptual design of the motorway from Ruse to Byala and the Byala bypass, two of the three future sections of the autobahn, are now ready. 

38.19% are the sections that need to be designed and built, but they are at an extremely unsatisfactory level of design and construction, the regional minister said. He said it was most important to develop the road infrastructure in the north-south direction. Among the priority projects Shishkov outlined are the completion of the Hemus Motorway - sections 7, 8 and 9, the completion of the Vidin - Botevgrad expressway, the tunnel under Petrohan, the section from the Sofia Ring Road to Bulgaria Blvd, the Struma motorway, the Ruse - Veliko Tarnovo motorway, the Veliko Tarnovo - Svilengrad expressway and the Black Sea and Rila motorways, which is the link between the Hemus, Trakia and Struma motorways and the border checkpoint with the Republic of North Macedonia.

A clear concept for the development of the country’s road network is needed, and not to build piecemeal as has been done over the years, architect Shishkov was adamant. He added that this should be a priority for the next governments - to complete the entire design process, all coordination procedures, have a clear strategy and a strict time schedule for the construction of strategic road sections.

The Minister announced that next week traffic will be released on the Shumen - Belokopitovo section of the Hemus Motorway, as well as a stretch of about 4 km on the Struma Motorway. Traffic in the Zheleznitsa tunnel on the autobahn is expected to be released in one lane by the end of the year, and the landslide will be strengthened next year to free traffic through the entire tunnel.