Around 18 km of highway between Simeria and Orastie have already been opened for traffic at the end of May, so a further 120 km are set to be opened for traffic in the second half of the year. At least these are CNADNR’s plans on paper.
On the ground most highway sections were 60%-70% finalized at the beginning of May, with work starting a year and a half ago.
The next highways to be inaugurated will be section 1 of the Orastie-Sibiu highway – an around 24-km stretch and the second section of the Nadlac-Arad highway, which is 16.6-km long. The two sections will be inaugurated in August, according to the new deadlines. In fact, the most advanced highway section is section 2 of Nadlac-Arad, which at the beginning of May was around 83% completed.
Also set to be completed this year, but in autumn, are 16 of the 22 km of section 3 of the Orastie-Sibiu highway, with the remaining 6 km most likely to be ready next year. This section, which also includes the largest viaduct in Romania – 1-km long and 74-meter tall, was 71% completed at the beginning of May. November will see the completion of the second section (20 km) of the Orastie-Sibiu highway, which a month ago was 55% completed, and December will see the completion of the fourth section (16 km) of the Orastie-Sibiu highway, as well as of the first section (27.5 km) of Lugoj-Deva.
Originally, the majority of highways under construction on PanEuropean Corridor IV were supposed to be ready by April this year, but the deadlines have been extended until the second half of the year or even until next year.
In fact, ZF recently wrote that highways under construction on PanEuropean Corridor IV will have total delays of 46 months, i.e. almost 4 years as the original completion deadlines have been extended.
The delegate minister for infrastructure projects Dan Sova, who is in charge of highways, told ZF at the end of April that construction companies are not to blame for the highway completion delays, but in fact CNADNR is to blame because it did not do the necessary expropriation in time.
Sova also said at the end of May he would have ready a full report on the highway sections under construction, but so far no such document has been released.
Last year Romania finalized a similar 140 or so km of highway and bypasses at highway standards.
Romania currently has 548 km of highway and continues to rank among the last in the European Union in terms of highway network.
But 2014 will be “poorer” in terms of new highways, with only section 3 of the Orastie-Sibiu highway scheduled for opening next year. The section was affected by landslides, causing its completion deadline to be extended.
(English version by Daniela Stoican)