Construction of Sofia Northern Speed Tangent Kicks Off

The construction of the first section of the Sofia Northern Speed Tangent (SNST) motorway starts Wednesday.

The SNST, also known as the Sofia Northern Bypass, is a 2x3 motorway shortcutting the Sofia Ring Road north of the city. It is to reduce congestion and traffic through the Sofia City center and improve urban mobility and safety.

The infrastructure project is launched after staying frozen for a year over problems with owners of land plots on the route of the motorway, according to reports of dnevnik.bg.

The Bulgarian government eventually adopted a decision that allowed the Road Infrastructure Agency to sign agreements with the owners of the land plots.

One week ago, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova announced that a construction permit for the first section of the SNST had been issued.

She suggested that the major part of the 16.54-km motorway was expected to be completed by end-2015.

The SNST project is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the state budget.

The project is important for Sofia because it will connect 4 motorways - the A1 Trakia motorway (via Sofia ring road), the A2 Hemus motorway, the future Kalotina motorway, and the A6 Lyulin motorway.

The SNST also connects 3 Pan-European corridors - IV, VIII, and X - which carry traffic to and from Greece, Romania, Macedonia, and Serbia.

The contractor is a consortium, HPVS-SST, which brings together Hydrostroy AD, Patni Stroezhi Veliko Tarnovo AD, Patinzheneringstroy AD, Patstroy Burgas Ltd and Vodstroy
98 AD.

The construction and designing contract for the SNST is worth BGN 180 M, VAT included.