Traffic congestion likely as Bulgaria nears end of four-day long weekend
More than 200 000 cars are expected to return to Bulgaria’s capital city Sofia on September 22, the close of the country’s four-day Independence Day long weekend, while up to 350 buses will be making their way to the city’s central bus station from various parts of the country.
The situation is being complicated by road repairs, especially on the Trakiya Motorway that links the Black Sea city of Bourgas to Sofia via Plovdiv. Roadworks caused serious congestion at the opening of the long weekend, slowing traffic to a crawl for several kilometres between Sofia and Plovdiv.
The chief of Sofia’s traffic police, Tencho Tenev, told Bulgarian National Radio that from 2pm on September 22, there would be police patrols at all entrances to the city.
Tenev said that the main flow of traffic was expected to be along Trakiya Motorway towards Sofia.
There were several places on Trakiya Motorway affected by roadworks, the largest of which was between the 75th and 81st km from Sofia, with single-lane traffic for those six kilometres. Serious congestion was expected at this point.
Tenev advised motorists heading from the Bourgas direction towards Sofia to use an alternative route, via the Pazardzhik intersection, where there was a ring road that passed through Delovo and the Momin pass towards Sofia.
Meanwhile, in Sofia a significant part of the centre of the city was to be closed to cars from 9am to 5pm as part of the annual “European Car Free Day”.
For motorists travelling in Bulgaria at the close of the long weekend, weather conditions in most of the country were expected to be largely favourable, with mostly cloudy weather. In parts of eastern Bulgaria, rain was expected, with the possibility of thunderstorms. Across the country, maximum temperatures were expected to range from 19 to 24 degrees Celsius.
