Hemus motorway

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This article contains information about a planned or expected future road. It may contain information of a speculative nature and the content may change dramatically as the road's construction and/or completion approaches and more information becomes available.

Hemus motorway
автомагистрала „Хемус“
Length:	planned: 433 km built: 129 km
Direction:	west-east
From:	Sofia
To:	Varna (planned)
Major cities:	Sofia, next to Botevgrad; next to Shumen, Varna (planned or in construction: next to Pleven)

The Hemus motorway or Haemus motorway (Bulgarian: автомагистрала „Хемус“), designated A2, is a motorway currently under construction in Bulgaria. Its planned length is 433 km, of which 129 km are in operation as of 2006, divided into two sections — Sofia-Yablanitsa and Varna-Shumen. According to the plans, Hemus motorway would connect the capital city of Sofia to Varna on the Black Sea, duplicating European route E70 (Varna-Shumen), European route E772 (Shumen-Yablanitsa) and European route E83 (Yablanitsa-Sofia).

The Pravets-Yablanitsa section of the Hemus motorway was officially opened on 5 December 1999. Due to the mountainous terrain through the Balkan Mountains the section, 5.47 km in length with another 16 km reconstructed, features two viaducts and one tunnel (Praveshki hanove), while the whole Sofia-Yablanitsa section has three more tunnels. The construction of the Pravets-Yablanitsa section began in the 1984 but ceased in the late 1980s due to lack of funds to be finished in 1998-1999.^[1]

The 12.8 km section connecting Shumen with Kaspichan to the east was opened on 30 December 2005 and cost 77.6 million leva.^[2]

The motorway is named after the Haemus Mons, an ancient name of the Balkan Mountains (Stara Planina).

Bebresh Viaduct, regarded as the highest bridge in the Balkans with a clearance of 120 m, is part of the Hemus motorway.

Hemus motorway crossing the Balkan Mountains, between Vitinya and Botevgrad

The Hemus motorway near Botevgrad