Via Carpatia: 3,000 km unified road network project to cross seven CEE countries, including Romania
Via Carpatia, a new international road corridor that will cross seven countries in Central and Eastern Europe, starting from the city of Klaipėda, Lithuania, and reaching Thessaloniki, Greece, is currently being built and connected, according to Greek publication Caradmotor. The same network will pass through Romania.
Major road infrastructure projects have been at the center of investments across Europe to strengthen transport, trade, and connections between countries in recent years. A prominent project, Via Carpatia is meant to be a unified network of highways and national roads with common technical characteristics and high standards.
At the same time, the project's objective is also to provide a significant economic boost to the regions through which it will pass, by developing freight transport and international road connections.
The project was first presented in 2006, when Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary signed a joint declaration to create a unified north-south road corridor.
The current form of the Via Carpatia was finalized in 2010, when Romania, Bulgaria and Greece joined the initiative, extending the route to Thessaloniki. In total, the highway will cross Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece.
Although the initial plan provided for Thessaloniki as the final destination, recent developments are extending this corridor even further. Turkey has been included as a partner in the project, through a declaration providing for its connection to Via Carpatia. More precisely, the highway will have a southern branch that will cross Bulgaria and reach the Bulgarian-Turkish border, in the Svilengrad–Edirne area, from where it will continue towards Istanbul.
The first works for the implementation of the project gradually began during 2010-2015, mainly in Poland and Hungary, where existing national roads were modernized and transformed into modern high-speed highways.
Back in 2025, then-acting president Ilie Bolojan said that Via Carpatia was "one of the most important projects" for Romania. He also detailed the exact route through Romania.
“On the territory of our country, there is an expressway route that enters Romania from Debrecen, through Oradea, goes south, along the Arad-Timișoara route, and then towards the Constanța area, towards Bulgaria, Calafat, and towards Serbia, towards Belgrade and then towards the Balkan Peninsula," Bolojan said, cited by Euronews Romania. He also underlined the importance of the Constanța port and its connections to Europe.
The total length of the highway network is estimated at approximately 3,000 kilometers, and the project is expected to be completed in 2030, according to the most optimistic estimates.
(Photo source: Silviu Matei|Dreamstime.com)
