After the massive construction of highways in this country, now it is turn of the so-called first-, second- and third-class roads. A total of 3,100 km from the national road network will be repaired by the end of 2012 with funding under different programs, as the entire territory of Bulgaria is 111,000 km2. The ministry of regional development and public works promises more secure and pleasant trips along the roads in less than 2 years.
Currently Bulgaria is one of the states with worst road infrastructure in Europe. The lack of road signs, damaged pavements and deep holes are a challenge even for the most experienced drivers. The poor condition of the road network literally creates access difficulties for hundreds of settlements, thus slowing down the economic development of entire regions… and pushing tourists away from some of the most emblematic cultural and historical sites. In the summer road traffic to Bulgarian sea resorts goes drastically up, along, of course, with traffic collisions. The government took up the task for completion of several highways. However, Bulgaria does not consist only of highways! – Minister of Regional Development Rosen Plevneliev said before journalists, adding that the condition of Bulgarian second-class roads has been dramatically worsening since 1984.

© Photo: BGNES

It turns out that some remote parts of the network have not been repaired since 1971! Some 35 percent of the road infrastructure is in a very poor condition, according to data from the ministry. The reason, Minister Plevneliev says, lies in the fact that over the years the repair funds have been “offensive”. Now we have provided much more money for that purpose for 2011 – some 4-5 times more than in 2007 for instance, the minister said and added:

“If we take into consideration the new construction, in 2011 the Road Agency will have to spent a total of EUR 550 mln. for the infrastructure of this country. We start a really large scaled program. These are 76 parallel projects that will built 6 times more roads than in the last 8-9 years.”

The improvement of Bulgaria’s road infrastructure is funded by the national budget, the World Bank and mostly by the EU funds. In the meantime the Road Infrastructure Agency calmed down the Black Sea tourists that the repairs will take into consideration the intensive summer traffic.

“Basically the sectors have been selected in a manner that wouldn’t allow the construction activities to create difficulties for the traffic towards the seaside. said Lazar Lazarov from the Road Infrastructure Agency. However, detours will be provided for those parts, where repair works will take place, but these detours will be short ones and not endless as they used to be in the past. Wherever such routes are not provided the repairs will be on the move.”

English version: Zhivko Stanchev