Bulgaria's Sofia to Complete 1st Overpass in July 2012

Bulgaria's capital Sofia will have its first operational overpass road junction in July 2012, Sofia Mayor Yordanka Fandakova promised.

The Sofia Municipality has launched the construction of a third overpass that is supposed to help relieve the tough street traffic situation in the city.

Fandakova referred to the overpass located on the crossing of the Andrey Sakharov Blvd and the Alexander Malinov Blvd in the Mladost quarter, which was in fact supposed to be completed by May 2012.

It is being constructed by Trace Via, which was picked in 2009 but the actual building started in August 2011; the construction costs BGN 8.8 M.

Just recently, in the spring of 2012, Sofia started the construction of its second overpass at the crossing of the Peyo Yavorov Blvd and Dragan Tsankov Blvd, which is being built by Glavbolgarstroy, and third overpass at the crossing of the Prof. Ivan Geshov Blvd and St. Georgi Sofiyski Street, which will be constructed by Balkanstroy selected in a tender back in 2009 but until recently the Sofia Municipality was unable to fund the project.

The third overpass will cost a total of BGN 11.4 M, and supposed to be completed in February 2013.

The construction of two more overpasses in Sofia will be started in 2013. One of them is located at the crossing of the Peyo Yavorov Blvd and the Stoyan Mihaylovski Blvd, and the other is at the crossing of the Bulgaria Blvd, and the Prof. Ivan Geshov Blvd.

The first is to be built by Glavbolgarstroy, and the second – by Balkanstroy.

The five overpasses in Sofia are funded with a European Investment Bank loan of EUR 42 M, and the municipal budget. About 10% of the funding has been absorbed so far, Deputy Mayor Hristov said.

The tenders were conducted in 2008 and 2009, with Glabolgarstroy Infrastructure Construction winning two tenders worth BGN 88.2 M, Balkanstroy winning two tenders worth BGN 38.7 M, and Trace winning one tender worth BGN 8.8 M.