Traffic restrictions in Sofia for EU-Western Balkans summit on May 16-17
Sofia city hall said that it was imposing traffic restrictions in several central areas of the city on May 16-17, prompted by the EU-Western Balkans summit in the Bulgarian capital.
The main areas affected by the restrictions will be around the hotels used by the attending official delegations (James Bourchier and Vitosha boulevards, in particular), as well as the Boyana official residence outside Sofia and Sofia Tech Park on the Tsarigradsko Chausee Boulevard.
Parking or lengthy stops on several streets in the city centre – a list that includes the General Gurko, Krakra, Shipka, Aksakov and Moskovska streets – will be banned between 8am on May 16 and 8pm on May 17. Parking restrictions will also be in place for the area around the Alexander Nevsky cathedral, the National Assembly and National Palace of Culture buildings, as well as the Hilton and Sofia Balkan hotels.
Traffic on Tsarigradsko Chaussee boulevard is expected to be further complicated by the planned protest by lorry drivers, who will be allowed to park their vehicles between the 4km and 7km marks of the boulevard, effectively taking one of the lanes out of circulation.
Sofia city hall said that the city’s residents are advised to reduce their car use to the minimum on those days and opt for public transportation, which will be largely unaffected by the traffic restrictions.
Separately and unrelated to the restictions in place for the EU-Western Balkans summit, traffic around the Vassil Levski national stadium would be restricted on May 15 due to the Levski Sofia – CSKA Sofia football match, the city hall said.
(Alexander Nevsky cathedral photo: Clive Leviev-Sawyer)
