New EUR 300 million Romania - Bulgaria Danube Bridge opens tomorrow

A little later than planned, the Danube II Vidin-Calafat Bridge connecting Romania and Bulgaria will be opened tomorrow (June 14). Romania's Transport Minister Relu Fenechiu confirmed that the inauguration will go ahead and one the longest bridges over the Danube River will be opened. Romania and Bulgaria signed off the project for a second bridge over the Danube in 2000, but work was delayed due to a lack of funds. Construction finally began in 2007 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2010. Since then, several finalization dates have been and gone. The 1,791-meter Calafat – Vidin bridge will have two traffic lanes in each direction, a railway line, two sidewalks and a bicycle track. The total cost of the project has reached EUR 300 million, according to local media estimates. Romania has contributed a little over EUR 70 million, with a fifty-fifty split of government money and EU pre-accession funds. Bulgaria, which invested EUR 226 million – or 80 percent of the total in the bridge – will have the majority of the revenues from the bridge toll. The toll system will have a display in Romanian, Bulgarian and English. The bridge was built by Spanish company FCC, which also built the Basarab overpass in the Romanian capital Bucharest, in partnership with Astaldi. See FCC's documentary on the construction of the bridge below.