Podcast in English
Text size
Bulgarian National Radio © 2024 All Rights Reserved

Bulgaria unveils plans for new Montana-Sofia express road with tunnel under Petrohan mountain pass

The Road Infrastructure Agency building.
Photo: api.bg

Yordan Valchev, Chairman of the Board of the Road Infrastructure Agency (API), has signed a contract for the design of the Montana-Sofia expressway, which includes a tunnel under the Petrohan mountain pass. The contract, awarded to Transconsult-22 Ltd, is worth EUR 1.8 million (excluding VAT) and has a completion period of 365 calendar days. The planned expressway will be approximately 82 km long with a design speed of 120 km/h, while ensuring that protected areas are not affected.

The Montana-Sofia expressway, with a tunnel under the Petrohan Pass, is a critical link in the national and European transport networks. Currently, transit times on the Sofia-Petrohan-Montana route and towards Lom on the Danube are significantly longer due to the difficult passage through Petrohan. In winter, traffic restrictions are often imposed due to the mountainous terrain and harsh weather conditions, increasing the burden on alternative routes.

Plans for such an expressway have existed since the late 1980s, but due to the presence of protected areas and sites along the proposed routes, previous projects were cancelled



Последвайте ни и в Google News Showcase, за да научите най-важното от деня!
Listen to the daily news from Bulgaria presented in "Bulgaria Today" podcast, available in Spotify.

More from category

Central Election Commission Deputy Chairperson Rositsa Mateva

4,858 candidates vie for seats in the 51st Parliament

To date, 4,858 candidates have registered to participate in the early parliamentary elections in Bulgaria, of which 1,378 are women and 3,480 are men. This number is not final, as requests for the deletion of some candidates are still being submitted,..

published on 10/15/24 5:27 PM

Women on management boards in Bulgaria have increased to 18.3%

Women in management positions in Bulgaria are increasing, although they remain fewer than men. In 2023, their number reached 68,000 - 3,200 more than the previous year, according to the government-approved Gender Equality Report 2023.  Last..

published on 10/15/24 4:02 PM

Bulgarian cabinet allocates additional funds for the activities of the Agency for Bulgarians Abroad

The Bulgarian government has approved additional funds in the amount of up to BGN 112,000 under the budget of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 2024. The funds are for the Executive Agency for Bulgarians Abroad under the Minister of Foreign Affairs to..

published on 10/15/24 2:53 PM