The Construction of Gabrovo’s Bypass Has Been Started
The construction of Gabrovo bypass has been started. The first sod has been turned today under project “Road III-5004 “Gabrovo Bypass” from km 0+000 to km 31+000, section from km 0+000 to km 20+124.5 and a temporary road connection from km 0+000 to km 3+130”. It is funded by the European Union’s Cohesion Fund and the national budget under Transport Operational Programme 2007-2013.
The site was opened at a formal ceremony attended by the president Rosen Plevneliev, the vice-President and the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ekaterina Zaharieva, the Minister of Transport, Information Technologies and Communications Kristiyan Krastev, the Chairman of Road Infrastructure Agency’s Management Board eng. Lazar Lazarov, etc.
The contractor for Gabrovo’s bypass is PSVT Consortium which includes: Hidrostroy JSC, “Patni Stroezhi – Veliko Tarnovo” JSC and “Patengineeringstroy – T” Ltd. The construction contract’s value is BGN 92 940 000, VAT included. The construction supervision will be performed by Obedineni Konsultanti – a company under the Obligations and Contracts Act with partners: Transconsult BG Ltd., Rubikon Engineering OOD and Traffic Holding Ltd.. The amount of the contract is BGN 1 096 032 BGN,
VAT included. The implementation deadline is 540 calendar days.
Gabrovo Bypass project shall be implemented in two stages:
Stage 1, starting now, includes the construction of a section of 23,254 km – from km 0+000 to km 20+124,5, temporary road connection of the bypass with the existing road I-5 (3,130 km), as well as the elaboration of an extended conceptual design of a tunnel under Shipka peak - 3,22 km.
The site’s technical parameters include a two-lane road, 10,5 m width and design speed of 70-80 km/hour. A tunnel will be constructed in the section between Chehlevtsi village and Dyado Dyanko quarter (from km 12+420 to km 12+980), where the Baykovski hill shall be crossed in the direction of North – South. The project includes the construction of 4 road junctions, 4 intersections, 5 bridges and viaducts.
Stage 2, whereby it is planned also to construct a tunnel under Shipka peak (3,22 km), shall be implemented between 2014 and 2020. The total length of the section shall be 10,549 km. The indicative amount of stage 2 is EUR 150 mln.
Gabrovo bypass is part of the Pan-European Transport Corridor IX Bucharest – Ruse – Dimitrovgrad - Alexandroupoli and is a nodal point in the traffic from the North to the South. It allows for the crossing of Balkan Mountains in the central part of Bulgaria.
The main transport directions to be served by the project will be: Ruse – Veliko Tarnovo – Shipka – Stara Zagora – Svilengrad (Makaza) and Oryahovo – Sevlievo – Shipka – Stara Zagora – Svilengrad (Makaza).
The construction of a tunnel under Shipka will provide for the best route crossing the Balkan Mountains. It will facilitate the transport connections between Central Northern Bulgaria’s Districts – Lovech, Ruse, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, and those of Central Southern Bulgaria – Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, Kardzhali and Smolyan.