Highways in Romania

Highways in Romania are dual carriageways, grade separated with controlled-access, designed for high speeds. In 2012, legislation amendments defined two types of highways: motorways (Romanian: Autostrăzi) and expressways (Romanian: Drumuri expres).

The main differences are that motorways have emergency lanes and the maximum allowed speed limit is 130 km/h (81 mph), while expressways do not and the speed limit is 120 km/h (75 mph).^[1]

The EU accession of the country in 2007 and the improved utilization of the allocated EU funds in recent years, enabled Romania to speed up the expansion of its highway network.

There are no toll roads in Romania^{[citation needed]}, but a vignette is required, except for municipal roads.

The Government of Romania plans to spend 4 billion euro in the next years^[when?] on 289 km of new motorways; another 5 billion euro for highway construction will come from the EU’s transport operational programme, according to official data.^[2] There is a plan for roughly 2,000 km of highways that would connect all major cities in Romania to highways in Western and Central Europe.^{[clarification needed]}

Motorways

Motorways are identified by A followed by a number. There are few tolls for using roads in Romania. There is one at the Giurgeni – Vadu Oii Bridge over the river Danube on highway DN2A at Vadu Oii and one at the Cernavodă Bridge, on the A2 motorway, a 17 km long section between Feteşti and Cernavodă which consists of two road/railway bridges. Nevertheless, every owner of a car that uses a motorway (A) or a national road (DN) in Romania must purchase a vignette (rovinietă) from any of the main petrol stations or at any post office throughout the country.^[3]

History

In 1967 began the first construction of a motorway in Romania. The first segment of A1 motorway, from Pitești to the capital (Bucharest) of 96 km was opened in 1972. Until the 1989 revolution, only an 18 km long segment of A2 from Fetești to Cernavodă was opened in 1987, with the entire motorway network totaling 113 km.

After the revolution, in the 90's it passed a period of transition from a centralized economy to a market economy. The economic shock therapy imposed harsh cuts from investments in infrastructure, which resulted in a decade with no motorway openings.

In 2001 the work began on 3 segments part of A2. The opening was in 2004: Bucharest — Fundulea 26.5 km, Fundulea — Lehliu 29.1 km, Lehliu — Drajna 41,6 km.

In 2007 another segment from A2 was opened: Drajna — Fetești 37 km. Also in 2007 an other segment from A1 opened - the Pitești Bypass.

After joining the European Union, Romania could access funds for development of the infrastructure. Thus Romania contracted many segments of motorway, and in the next years a series of openings took place: beginning in December 2009 Gilău - Turda 42 km on the A3 motorway.

In November 2010 Turda — Câmpia Turzii 10 km on the A3 Motorway, and in December 2010 Sibiu Bypass on the A1 Motorway: 17.5 km.

By December 2011 the A1 segment Timişoara — Arad 32.3 km, A2 segment Medgidia - Constanta 14.5 km, A4 Constanta bypass 9.4 km, A11 Arad bypass 12.3 km were partially (some half profile and expected full profile by following year) or fully opened.^[4]

By December 2012 on A1 the segment Deva — Simeria 14.8 km was opened, also on A2 Cernavodă - Medgidia 20.5 km, on A3 Bucharest Bypass - Ploiesti 55.5 km, A4 Constanța Bypass 10.4 km.

A6 Balinț-Lugoj 11 km in December 2013 — the first segment of A6 Motorway was finalized; A1 Lugoj-Deva lot1 17.4 km in Dec. 2013, A1 Sibiu-Orastie the lots 1,2 and 4 of 24.1 km, 19.8 km, and 16.1 km in Dec. 2013, A4 (Lazu-Portul Constanta) 2 km in Jul. 2013 - the Constanta By-Pass was complete, and A1 Orastie-Simeria 17.7 km in May 2013.

In Nov. 2014, on A1 Saliste-Cunta (Sibiu-Orastie lot 3) of 22.1 km was opened, Arad-Nadlac 28.2 km (partial opening of the total of 38 km)in Dec. 2014, A1 Arad-Nadlac 10.6 km(the remainder portion) in July 2015, Timisoara — Lugoj lot 2 segment of 26 km, from Lugoj — Deva Lot 1 10 km(the remainder portion) in Dec. 2015.

In December 2015, 732 km were opened. In 2016 there were no new segments opened.

in March 2017, Traina Vuia/Dumbrava - Margina section, part of the Lugoj - Deva segment, on A1 motorway was opened (about 15km), thus Romania had 748km in use.^[5]

Year	1972	1987	2004	2007	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017
Km	96	18	97	51	42	27	68	101	108	71	54	0	16
Total km	96	113	210	261	303	330	398	499	607	678	732	732	748

A1 Motorway

A1 Bucuresti-Nadlac Motorway, part of the Pan European IV Corridor the northern branch, has opened as of December 2015 372 km of the total approximate length of 577 km, representing the following sections: Bucharest-Pitești (1972), Pitești bypass (2007), Sibiu bypass (2010), Timișoara-Arad (2011), Arad bypass (2012), Timișoara-Lugoj lot 1 (2012), Deva-Simeria (2012), Simeria-Orăștie(2013), Orăștie-Sibiu lots 1, 2 and 4 (2013), Lugoj-Deva lot 1 (2013), Orăștie-Sibiu lot 3 (2014), Nădlac-Arad lot 1 (2014), Nădlac-Arad lot 2 (2015) and Timișoara-Lugoj lot 2 (2015).

As of December 2015 the following segments are in progress: Lugoj-Deva lots 2, 3 and 4 of 72 km (to be finalized in 2017) and the feasibility study for the Sibiu-Pitești section is underway (to be finalized in April 2017).

A2 (Sun motorway)

A2 Bucharest–Constanța Motorway has 206 km and is the first motorway in Romania fully opened. The motorway connects the Romanian capital, Bucharest, with the main Port of Constanța, along the Pan European Corridor IV. It ends in an interchange with the A4 motorway, which is the Constanța Bypass.

A3 Motorway

A3 Bucuresti-Borş Motorway with its 603 km is the biggest project in Central Europe. It consists of two portions: Bucharest - Ploieşti with 62 km and Brasov - Borş (Oradea) - also called the Transylvania Motorway - with 415 km. It will connect the north-western region called Transylvania with the capital of Romania - Bucharest - and with Hungary. In 2014 only 110 out of 477 km were in service.

A3 has the following segments: Bucharest–Ploieşti, Brasov - Târgu-Mureş, Târgu-Mureş - Gilău (Cluj-Napoca West), Gilău-Borş (Oradea). As of 2014 the following segments of the Transylvania motorway are finalized: Turda-Gilău (in 2009) - 42 km and Turda-Câmpia Turzii (in 2010) 10 km out of the 107 km from the Targu-Mures - Gilau segment. The other segment is Bucharest Bypass - Ploieşti(2012) 55 out of 62 km. Another 3.5 km out of the 6.5 km stretch between the Bucharest Bypass and Bucharest were finalized in 2014, which is part of the Bucharest-Ploiesti segment, but are not connected with an interchange, the remaining 3 km are tendered.

As of 2015 the following segments are in progress: 55 km Târgu-Mureş - Câmpia Turzii which is part of the Târgu-Mureș - Gilău segment, due in 2017-2018; Gilău-Nădăselu an 8.7 km stretch is due in 2016, Nădăselu-Mihaești was attributed, and Suplacu de Barcău-Borș was just attributed, is already built approximately 50% by the previous contractor (Bechtel) and is due in 2017-2018.

A4 Motorway

The A4 motorway acts as the main route to the Constanța Port and as bypass for the city of Constanța. It runs from Ovidiu in Northern Constanța to the port. It also has an interchange with the A2 motorway, which runs towards Bucharest via the Pan European Corridor IV.

The motorway is planned to be extended to the Bulgarian border another 45 km which would make it a total of 67 km.

A6 Motorway

The A6 Motorway is the southern branch of the Pan European Corridor IV and will connect Lugoj with Sofia, Athens and Istanbul. In Romania, the motorway will have a total of 260 km, out of which only a stretch of 11.4 km was built, connecting the Lugoj Bypass and the A1 motorway towards Bucharest and Hungary.

A10 Motorway

The A10 motorway is currently under construction. It will connect A1 to A3, therefore being the first motorway to connect other two motorways. It will begin near Sebeş (in an interchange with A1) and end near Turda (in an interchange with A3), running through the historic town of Alba Iulia. The motorway is to be finished in 2017-2018.

A11 Motorway

Also called the Arad Bypass, the A11 motorway is currently a short 3.5 km stretch that connects the A1 motorway with DN7 and the Arad Industrialized Area. The motorway is planned to be extended towards Oradea and connected to the A3 motorway that will run towards the Hungarian border at Borş.

Proposed motorways

A7 Motorway

The former route of Pan-European Corridor IX was Giurgiu - Bucharest Ring Expressway - Urziceni - Buzău - Râmnicu-Sărat - Focșani - Tecuci - Bârlad - Huși - Albița. Initially A7 Motorway followed approximately (because it only joint corridor IX at Buzău) the Corridor IX route. The distance from Ploiești to Albița was 314 km.

Since 2014 plans in favor of a motorway past Focșani were scrapped in favor of an expressway towards Bacău and then join A8 near Pașcani, then continue north pass Suceava and end at Siret(the Ukrainian border). The new route of A7 from Ploiești to Siret will have 440 km. The motorway from Focșani to Albița (155 km) will have a different route number assigned.

As of 2015, A7 section Ploiești-Pașcani has a total of 290 km, of which a 17 km stretch (also called Bacău East Bypass) began to be constructed in 2015 as a half-profile.

A8 Motorway

A8 Târgu Mureș - Pașcani - Iași is a motorway that will connect regions of Transylvania and Moldavia. It has a length of 318.8 km and starts at A3 join near Târgu Mureș, passes through Pașcani (join with A7), and ends at Iași (border with Moldova). The section between Târgu Neamț - Iași (102 km) is in the feasibility studies revision process, and might have a preliminary delivery date around 2021-2023.

A12 Motorway

The other project have been recently brought up, the A12 Craiova-Pitești motorway projects. The Romanian National Company of Motorways and National Roads (CNADNR) intends to organize a tender for the design and construction of the two motorway projects.

List

Trunk Motorway	Route	Planned (km) / Built (km)	Remarks
A1 motorway	Bucharest – Pitești – Sibiu – Deva – Timișoara – Arad – Nădlac –> Hungary	576 / 400	Bucharest – Pitești (110 km), Sibiu – Deva (132 km), Margina - Nădlac (158 km) sections are operational; works ongoing on another 56.8 km between Deva and Lugoj; the remaining section between Pitești and Sibiu to be completed by 2021.
A2 motorway	Bucharest – Fetești – Cernavodă – Constanța	203 / 203	Operational on the entire length; first fully completed Romanian motorway.
A3 motorway	Bucharest – Ploiești – Brașov – Sighișoara – Târgu Mureș – Cluj-Napoca – Zalău – Oradea – Borș –> Hungary	603 / 108	Bucharest Ring Road – Ploiești (56 km) and Câmpia Turzii – Gilǎu (52 km) sectors are operational; Bucharest Ring Road – Bucharest (6.5 km) segment under construction; Gilău – Nădășel (8.5 km) segment due in spring 2018; Nădășel - Mihăiești (16.8 km) segment due in summer 2018; Targu-Mures – Câmpia Turzii (55 km) due in 2018, Suplacu de Barcău – Borș (64.5 km) due in 2018.
A4 motorway	Ovidiu – Agigea – Mangalia – Vama Veche –> Bulgaria	~60 / 22	Constanța bypass complete, between Ovidiu and the Port of Constanța. Agigea – Vama Veche section planned.
A6 motorway	Junction with A1 near Lugoj – Drobeta-Turnu Severin – Calafat	260 / 11	Operational between the junction with A1 and the Lugoj bypass.^[6]
A7 motorway	Splitting from A3 near Ploiești – Buzău – Focșani – Bacău – Pașcani	330 / 0	Bacău bypass started in September 2016 - 16km
A8 motorway	Târgu Mureș (junction with A3) – Târgu Neamț – Pașcani - Iași –> Moldova	318 / 0	East–West motorway between regions of Transylvania and Moldavia. Feasibility studies conducted in 2009-2011; feasibility studies revision and update contracted in 2015.^[7]
A10 motorway	Junction with A1 near Sebeș – Junction with A3 near Turda	70 / 0	Works in progress, to be completed by 2018.
A11 motorway	Junction with A1 near Arad – Junction with DN7	? / 3	Planned to reach Oradea.
A12 motorway	Junction with A1 near Pitești – Slatina – Craiova	121 / 0	Mentioned in the 2014 Masterplan. Priority for Slatina and Bals bypasses^[8]

Expressways

Planned expressways according to CNADNR (Romanian National Company of Motorways and National Roads):^[8]^[9]

Expressway	Route	Length (km) / in use (km)	Remarks
DE4	Turda – Cluj-Napoca - Dej - Baia Mare - Satu Mare - Hungary	216 / 20	will connect A3 to Hungary
DE5	Dej - Bistrița - Vatra Dornei - Suceava - Pașcani	308 / 0
DE5B	Brașov – Ploiești	106 / 48
DE8	Constanţa – Tulcea – Brăila - Buzău	285 / 0	will connect A4 and A7