A3 (Romania)

A3
Transylvania Motorway
Route information
Maintained by National Company of Motorways and National Roads of Romania
Length: 52 km (32 mi)
Planned: 588 kilometres (365 mi)
Major junctions
From: Bucharest
To: Borş
Location
Major cities: Bucharest, Ploieşti, Braşov, Făgăraş, Sighişoara, Târgu Mureş, Cluj-Napoca, Zalău, Oradea
Highway system

Motorways in Romania

A3 Transylvania Motorway or Autostrada Transilvania (A3) is a motorway currently being constructed in Romania. It will be a four-lane, 588-kilometer motorway, stretching northwest from Bucharest to Oradea. The motorway will connect the cities of Bucharest, Ploieşti, Braşov, Făgăraş, Sighişoara, Târgu Mureş, Cluj-Napoca, Zalău and Oradea. The motorway will be owned by the government of Romania. Transylvania Motorway will follow almost the same route as the DN1 road (National Road 1), which became insufficient due to the growing rate of traffic between Bucharest and Transylvania.

Contents

Bucureşti-Braşov section "Snow Motorway"

The first segment, from Bucharest to Moara Vlăsiei will be built as a six-lane set of carriageways to accommodate commuting and holiday surplus traffic; the motorway will cross the Carpathian Mountains along the Prahova Valley (the Ploieşti - Braşov segment is considered the most difficult section to be built). It will also provide access to the future Terminal 2 of the Henri Coandă Airport and to the future A5 (Bucharest - Chişinău) motorway, via the Ploieşti South-East/Dumbrava interchange. Works on Bucharest - Ploieşti section of the A3 started on 15 March 2007. Works on Comarnic - Braşov, the most difficult segment of the motorway, have not started yet and should take around 4 years to complete.[1]

The total construction cost of the segment is estimated at 1.2 billion euros.[2]

Section Route Length (km) Remarks
1 Bucharest - Ploieşti 62 estimated completion 2012
2 Ploieşti- Comarnic 36 planned
3 Comarnic - Brasov 55 estimated completion 2018

Braşov-Oradea section "Transylvania motorway"

Bechtel contract controversy

This motorway segment was originally scheduled to be built by American company Bechtel Corporation together with its regional partner Enka A.S. of Turkey. The contract was awarded in 2004 to Bechtel Corporation by the Social Democrat Prime-Minister Adrian Năstase without an open bidding process, invoking "national security" as an excuse.[3] The estimated construction cost was 2.8 billion € in 2003, rose to 4.7 blillion € in a 2007 estimate.[4] Although officially the deadline is set for 2013, the final cost and finalization date are currently unknown.[5] As per Romanian ministry of transportation, Anca Boagiu, the original contract was highly disadvantageous to the Romanian side. Following the contract renegotiation[6] that occurred in June–July 2011, Bechtel agreed to lower the building cost per kilometer by 50 % down to 6.9 million euros.[7][8] Also it was decided that the American company will build only 2 segments of the A3 (Borş - Suplacu de Barcău and Gilău - Câmpia Turzii), leaving all the other segments of the motorway open for tendering.[9]

Technical specifications

Technical data

Section Length (km) Subsection Route Construction
1 161 1A-53 km Braşov (Cristian) - Făgăraş planned
1B-52 km Făgăraş - Sighişoara planned
1C-56 km Sighişoara - Târgu Mureş (Ogra) planned
2 90 2A-36 km Târgu Mureş (Ogra) - Câmpia Turzii to be re-tendered
2B-54 km Câmpia Turzii - Cluj-Napoca Vest (Gilău) completed in November 2010 
3 164 3A-24 km Cluj-Napoca Vest (Gilău) - Mihăieşti to be re-tendered
3B-76 km Mihăieşti - Suplacu de Barcău planned
3C-64 km Suplacu de Barcău - Oradea Vest (Borş) completion deadline 2013

Construction progress - 2011

The official groundbreaking ceremony for Autostrada Transilvania was held near the village of Vălişoara on 16 June 2004. At present, works are being performed simultaneously on two segments - 2B Campia Turzii-Cluj Vest, and 3C Suplacu de Barcău-Oradea Vest (Borş).

Openings timeline

Exits List

Exits and buildings (Northbound)
Cluj-Napoca bypass (52 km)
(1) Câmpia Turzii opened 2010
(2) Turda / Aiud, DN1 opened 2009
(3) Cluj-Napoca West / Gilău, DN1 opened 2009

Gallery

See also

External links

References

  1. ^ Hotnews 15.03.2007
  2. ^ (Romanian) EVS.ro
  3. ^ Evenimentul Zilei, EVZ.ro
  4. ^ (Romanian) EVZ.ro
  5. ^ (Romanian) ZF.ro
  6. ^ http://seenews.com/news/latestnews/u_s_bechteltocontinueworksontwosectorsofmotorwayinromania-115451/
  7. ^ http://business-review.ro/news/bechtel-built-54-km-of-transylvania-motorway-for-eur-1-25-billion-but-agreed-to-renegotiate-contract/11995/
  8. ^ http://www.roadtraffic-technology.com/news/news126673.html
  9. ^ http://www.nineoclock.ro/romanias-partnership-with-bechtel-ends/
  10. ^ http://infrastructura.info/?articol=Autostrada%20spre%20Ploie%C5%9Fti%20cost%C4%83%20450%20de%20milioane%20de%20euro.%20Vezi%20c%C3%A2nd%20ar%20trebui%20s%C4%83%20fie%20gata%20_articol4471.html