Trakia motorway

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 river Stryama burst a dike on the territory of Maritsa municipality in southern Bulgaria, threatening to flood the nearby village of Trilistnik and Trakia Motorway.

Urgent measures have been taken to reinforce the breached dike, Focus news agency reports.

The snow that fell on Friday caused disruptions to traffic in several Bulgarian regions, which necessitated the introduction of temporary measures and limitations.

According to the forecast, snow is to continue to fall in most of the northern regions, while rain is expected in the southeast on Saturday, but precipitations are to decrease as of midday.

Following a day of torrential rains, some parts of Bulgaria have been heavily flooded with several rivers and dams overflowing on Thursday.

Winter weather permitting, Bulgaria may complete delayed construction of its Maritsa motorway in August next year, Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova has said.

Following on-site inspection and meetings with construction contractors Pavlova said on Sunday that the 34.1-kilometre long Lot 1 was 65% completed and the 34.2 km long Lot 2 was 80% built.

Gazprom will build 20 new filling stations in Bulgaria by end-2016, according to Ivan Kostadinov, Genaral Mager of NIS Petrol Bulgaria.

NIS Petrol is 100%-owned by Gazprom Neft's subsidiary Naftna Industrija Srbije (NIS).

Kostadinov, as cited by Trud daily, explained that the construction works would start in March or April.

The motorway section from Kalotina to road junction Hrabarsko may be completed in 3 years, according to Lazar Lazarov, Chair of the Management Board of Bulgaria's Road Infrastructure Agency.

Lazarov, as cited by Monitor daily, explained that the 32-kilometer-long motorway section covered almost fully the motorway section from Sofia to the Bulgaria-Serbia border.

The Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry in Plovdiv warned that a section of the Trakia highway has been flooded, Tuesday.

The 112-106 km stretch of the emergency lane in the direction Burgas - Sofia was flooded due to an overflowing irrigation canal.

Police teams from the Plovdiv Directorate have been sent to secure the site.

The damages to Bulgaria's road network caused by the floods that hit Primorsko and Sozopol Wednesday will cost about BGN 3M, Regional Development Minister Desislava Terzieva said.

The European Commission has approved a grant of EUR 120 M for the Sofia Northern Bypass project.

The project was approved through a decision of the EC on June 4, according to a media statement of Bulgaria's Ministry of Regional Development.

The funding is to be provided under operational program "Regional Development" 2007-2013.