Soon, drivers in Romania will be able to use a new motorway connecting the capital, Bucharest, and Giurgiu, located beside the Danube. This road will link the city to a future site of a bridge spanning the Danube. A new expressway is being developed in Romania. This high-standard road section will have three lanes in both directions, meeting the long-awaited needs of Romanian commuters. According to the Romanian National Company for Road Infrastructure Development (CNIR), public consultation has begun for the feasibility study of the Bucharest-Giurgiu Expressway since the end of July. It is important to highlight that this expressway is a development of the Romanian National Company for Road Infrastructure Development (CNIR). The feasibility study covers a period of 18–24 months, and the project tender will be issued by the end of the year. The new motorway will continue to the A1 in the western part of the capital. This could potentially be the first section of a future second ring road surrounding the capital. The new head of the company responsible for major infrastructure projects discussed this in more detail. "We are preparing a feasibility study between Bucharest and Giurgiu with a slightly different approach," says Gabriel Budescu, CEO of CNIR.
The planned road will practically link the Giurgiu - Ruse bridge over the Danube with the current road network and the Bucharest area. No definitive decision has been made about the exact route. There are several options on the table, including a proposal for the expressway to lead southwest towards Bucharest and then connect to the A1 Bucharest–Pitești motorway. "In designing the route, we aim to explore possible connectivity points to the Alexandria-Bucharest motorway. We have outlined several possibilities, including for the future A0 ring road. It is important for us to understand which variation would be the most efficient from a traffic perspective," explains Budescu. According to Budescu, the highest traffic volume for the Giurgiu-Bucharest connection will head towards Pitești and Sibiu, so logically, extending the route to the A1 would be the next step. The CNIR head assured that the planned road will be a motorway, not an expressway. The feasibility study is currently being elaborated, which will determine the type of expressway. If it is a motorway, it could be the A5, which has long been present in their traffic plans. Budescu leans towards the motorway solution, stating that this will be the most likely outcome. A section with three lanes per direction is planned, which is rare in the domestic motorway infrastructure.
