The Council of Ministers approved a roadmap for the completion of Struma motorway. According to the schedule, an open tender for preliminary design is to be launched in February 2025 for the uncompleted Simitli-Kresna section. The route will be constructed outside Kresna Gorge. A contract is to be concluded with the contractor in June, and there should be an investment project by December 2027. The 14-kilometre long section should be ready by June, 2031. After that date, the E-79 road through Kresna Gorge will only be regarded as supplementary, a local roadway, and will not be part of the Western lane of the motorway.

Completing Struma motorway is also connected with national security, the government says, because it provides transport connectivity with Romania and Greece, which are members of the EU and of NATO.