Lines of trucks and long waiting hours at main Western border crossing points

Large lines of trucks formed, on Tuesday morning, at the main crossing points on the border with Hungary, on the way out of Romania, due to the restrictions applied to heavy traffic until Monday evening, so that drivers are forced to wait between 80 and 420 minutes to reach border control. According to the online application for monitoring border traffic, available on the Border Police Website, drivers who want to exit the country through the Petea border crossing point are forced to wait the longest hours. Two heavy traffic control lanes are open here, but the waiting time is of at least 420 minutes in line. The waiting time at the Varsand Border Crossing Point (PTF) is 300 minutes, although three lanes are open here for trucks leaving Romania. At Nadlac II, on the pan-European highway, drivers wait at least 300 minutes in line, with five exit lanes open. At Nadlac I, the waiting time for transit is 80 minutes, and the control is done on two lanes. In Bihor county, there are three lanes available for heavy traffic at the Bors PTF, on the exit direction, and the waiting time here is 280 minutes, while the waiting time at Bors II is 220 minutes, with three lanes available. The Arad Border Police sent a press release according to which the columns formed "as a result of the traffic restrictions on the territory of Hungary, from March 13 to 15, when the cargo vehicles did not circulate." According to the same source, the number of control lanes for freight trucks on the way out of the country has been increased. "At the border with Hungary, border formalities are carried out jointly with the Hungarian authorities, meaning that the Romanian Border Police have allocated staff to cover all checkpoints, but the number of lanes that can be made available is limited by the number of police officers assigned by the Hungarian Police," reads the press release. The Romanian border authorities contacted those of the neighbouring state "to take common measures to streamline traffic, through supplementing the personnel on the Hungarian side, as well as through opening some additional lanes for the verification of the trucks." Also, for streamlining traffic on the A1 Motorway that connects with PTF Nadlac II, the Motorway Traffic Police Bureau was informed in order to monitor the traffic. In the early hours of Tuesday, since the lifting of the restrictions, the border police on the border with Hungary carried out the specific formalities for 2,500 trucks, of which 2,000 were on the way out. AGERPRES (RO - author: Marian Buga, editor: Irina Poenaru, EN - author: Cristina Zaharia, editor: Adina Panaitescu)