site.btaHeavy Weekend Traffic Burdens Danube Bridge 2

Heavy entry/exit traffic was in place on the Bulgarian side of Danube Bridge 2 between Vidin, Bulgaria and Calafat, Romania on Saturday. BTA saw that by 6 p.m. local time the trucks approaching the bridge had formed a 15 km long waiting line which stretched into Vidin's ring road. It is normal to see 10 km lines of vehicles on adjoining roads on weekends.

Lyudmil Dimitrov, Director of Danube Bridge Vidin-Calafat, the joint Bulgarian-Romanian venture which operates the bridge, told BTA that the situation is normal for the season. He said over 5,000 vehicles cross the bridge daily in either direction, and this has been observed over the last few months. Traffic has grown even heavier during the last few days.

All six entry and exit lanes on the Romanian side operate round the clock, Dimitrov added. The Romanians usually handle trucks on five lanes and passenger cars on one. The pattern can change either in favour of trucks or passenger cars, depending on the situation.

Bulgarian Traffic Police are regulating the movement of vehicles in the area. Vehicles are required to stop periodically in buffer parking areas between Vratsa and Mezdra (150-160 km from Vidin) and near Montana (100 km from Vidin), Dimitrov said. Passage across the bridge itself takes less than five minutes, and checkpoint formalities require another 10 minutes.

On weekends, trucks waiting to cross Danube Bridge 2 cause traffic congestion at the entry and exit points of Vidin. Accidents on the E-79 road in the regions of Vidin, Montana and Vratsa are a daily occurrence, Interior Ministry data show.