Cabinet votes 100M leva for repairs to ‘critical’ sections of Trakiya, Hemus motorways
Bulgaria’s cabinet has granted an additional 100 million leva for repairs to the sections of the Trakiya and Hemus motorways in the worst condition, and there will be traffic restrictions throughout summer 2015 on these motorways because of repair work.
Speed limits on parts of the motorways were announced at the beginning of April because of dangerous road conditions, including large potholes.
The 360km Trakiya Motorway links Sofia to Bourgas at the Black Sea coast via Plovdiv, Stara Zagora and Yambol. The Hemus highway, which is far from completed, is intended to be a 433km link between Sofia and Varna, via Botevgrad, Veliko Turnovo and the town of Shoumen.
The money voted by the cabinet on April 15 is to be used to repair, in various places, bridges, drainage, waterproofing, guard rails and viaducts.
Regional Development Minister Liliyana Pavlova said that some parts of the motorways had not been repaired for between 20 and 30 years.
Pavlova said that it was not possible to proceed with the repairs at a faster pace, because in cases where the roads had not been repaired for more than 20 years, it was not a matter of laying new asphalt but of “very serious” repairs and reconstruction.
She appealed to motorists to allow more time for their journeys and to exercise patience.
(The Trakiya Motorway at Vakarel junction. Photo: Anton Lefterov)
