Traffic on key transport routes across Romania's Carpathians and Danube temporarily restricted

The road traffic along one of the two main transport routes across the Carpathians in Romania (Olt Valley) and over the Danube bridge Giurgiu-Ruse towards Bulgaria will be temporarily restricted with a significant impact on tourism but also on the freight traffic that heavily relies on these routes.

On July 3, minister of transport Sorin Grindeanu announced that the traffic along Olt Valley would be restricted for a month during the daytime, between July 8 and August 9, due to the ongoing works on the Sibiu-Pitesti highway, Ziarul Financiar reported. Specific places have to be made available along the route for drilling works preliminary to the construction of the motorway, which would put the passengers at risk.

The authorities have yet to announce alternative routes, but there are a few: the (already crowded) Prahova Valley and the iconic (but challenging for freight traffic) Transfagarasan. According to the road company CNAIR, Valea Jiului is another alternative.

Regarding the Giurgiu-Ruse bridge, a post on the Facebook page of the CNAIR states that "the Bulgarian authorities have decided to rehabilitate the section of the bridge that is under their management. For repairs, Bulgarian road users will close one lane at a time, and traffic will alternate on the other lane".

The bridge is managed dually, both by Romania, through CNAIR, and by Bulgaria, and at the moment, for the performance of some uncovering works, it will be closed in one direction, and later, it will be decided whether or not it will be completely closed to road traffic, said Cristian Pistol, the general director of CNAIR, in a press statement. The project will take a total of two years.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos/Sabin Cirstoveanu)