Bulgaria wanted to revive the isolated city of Vidin, putting the bridge as far west as possible, between Vidin and Calafat. This caused great damage to the already weak economy in northwestern Bulgaria. Vidin municipality had split up land that was needed for the bridge into smaller parcels. [27] Soon after the official ceremony, trouble started. [8], Building a bridge between Calafat (in Romania) and Vidin (in Bulgaria) had been discussed more seriously since the late 1970s, but the plan was abandoned over and over again. Bridge deck ready, but finishing works still lasted 8 months, Panoramic view of the bridge under construction, Romanian Minister of Transport, Constructions and Tourism, "Construction of ... Bridge ... at Vidin-Calafat", Commissioner Hahn hails opening of ‘New Europe Bridge’ as a potent symbol of European Cooperation, Bulgaria-Romania New Danube Bridge Named 'New Europe' Novinite/Sofia News Agency, 15 June 2013, "One-mile-long bridge across Danube due to open", Дунав мост 2 - 100-годишна сбъдната мечта, "The Danube's Economic Blues; Balkan Area Hopes a Bridge Can Put It on Road to Riches", "Record Danube Low Freezes River Traffic", "Bulgaria faces further fatal freeze a day after Black Sea devastation", "Bulgaria: Danube Freeze Shuts Bulgarian-Romanian Ferries", "Balkan experts to tackle Danube bridge stalemate", "Bulgaria, Romania disagree again over Danube bridge", "The Second Danube Bridge: Where Is the Problem Actually? „Danube bridgeVidin-Calafat“ АD, 15.10.2020. It is the second bridge on the shared section of the Danube between the two countries. [12][13] About one month after the opening of the bridge, the ferry service between Vidin and Calafat was suspended. The Vidin-Calafat bridge is part of the Pan-European Corridor IV, which runs from Dresden (Germany) to Istanbul (Turkey) and is considered an essential network for the development of transport in the area. If the building process continued at the same speed, reportedly, one may have expected that the last gap, between pillars PB11 and PB12, was closed in November 2012. However, the city of Vidin is lying lower and is protected by dikes, while the bank on the Calafat side is high above Danube river. The bridge between Vidin on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube River and Calafat in Romania has already been completed and is ready for use, reports in Bulgarian media said last month. [15] Romania wanted transiting trucks to stay in their country as long as possible by placing the bridge further east, between Turnu Măgurele and Nikopol. Visible construction actually started in 2009, on the Bulgarian bank of the Danube river. On 1 October 2012, the gap between the bridge deck at PB12 and the abutment A3 on the Romanian river bank was closed. This bridge is connecting Bulgaria (Ruse) and Romania (Giurgiu) over the great Danube river. Ruse oblast is more defined by the Danube valley than its neighbors. [25][failed verification][26][dead link]. For centuries there had been no bridges crossing the Danube river between Bulgaria and Romania since the destruction of Constantine's Bridge, which was built by the Romans, until the Giurgiu–Ruse Friendship Bridge was built and opened in 1954. Travellers from Bulgaria (and Turkey) towards Central and Western Europe who wanted to avoid both the long waiting times and high transfer prices for the Calafat-Vidin ferry crossing and the customs procedures and road tolls one would face when travelling through Serbia, which is outside the European Union border, had to make a long detour towards the Giurgiu–Ruse Bridge. Looking tremendous. The road from Montana to Vidin is a rehabilitated[49] two-lane single carriageway road. The bridge is located near the middle of this reversed S. At most part of the Danube river, the Bulgarian bank lies slightly higher above water than the Romanian river bank. Note: Sorry for the dirty windshield, water frozen at SOFIA, BG!!!! Although Bulgaria is south of Romania, crossing the Danube Bridge 2 from Vidin towards Calafat is done from northwest to southeast. [57] [48], According to the planned road network of Pan-European corridors, the bridge was supposed to have access to the Bucharest – Craiova – Timișoara – Budapest motorway by 2017, allowing rapid transit from North-western Bulgaria, to South-western Romania, Eastern Hungary and the rest of Europe. [62] The route from Kapitan Andreevo (the border between Bulgaria and Turkey) to Nădlac (the border between Romania and Hungary) across the Calafat–Vidin Bridge is approximately 20 kilometres (12 mi) shorter than the route across the Giurgiu–Ruse Bridge, which had been the most used route between the two countries for the freight traffic. The toll is collected at toll booths, located on the Romanian side. [37] At the event, the Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov declared that he expected that the bridge would be opened in spring 2013. On 3 October 2012, the remaining gap in the bridge was only 18 metres (59 ft). The new bridge on the Danube between Bulgaria and Romania, until now known as Danube Bridge 2, will be named New Europe. [42], The longest line of waiting trucks on the bridge could add up to 100 trucks, with a total maximum weight of 4,000 tonnes, assuming that every truck would be loaded to a maximum of 40 tonnes. The Vidin-Calafat Bridge over the Danube River will provide an important link in the transport infra-structure of both Bulgaria and Romania, and will form part of the southern branch of the pan-European transport Corridor number IV. A new bridge spanning the Danube River along the 430 km border between Bulgaria and Romania is due to open in 2011. As of October 2014, any vehicle driving from Vidin to Calafat can be seen on, This page was last edited on 30 December 2020, at 18:11. The New Europe Bridge, previously known as the Danube Bridge 2 (Bulgarian: Дунав мост 2, Dunav most 2), and informally called the Vidin-Calafat Bridge or Calafat-Vidin Bridge (Bulgarian: Мост Видин–Калафат, Most Vidin–Kalafat; Romanian: Podul Calafat–Vidin), is a road and rail bridge between the cities of Vidin, Bulgaria, and Calafat, Romania. At the point where the railway meets the road, a gap in the median crash barrier has been adapted to serve as a U-turn lane. This has been fixed by a sign warning that the road ahead is a toll road, just a few hundred metres before the bridge. This is because here the Danube has a very large mirrored S-shape, spanning across approximately 90 kilometres (56 mi), starting at Novo Selo and ending in Lom. Vehicles travelling from Novo selo to Vidin shall use a bypass route through the road E79 and the “Bregovo” road junction. [citation needed], On 22 May 2013, the Bulgarian president announced that the opening ceremony of the Danube Bridge 2 was set to take place on the 14 June 2013, and that the toll for passenger cars would be six euro. Kilometer markers are set up along the Danube river and counting starts at the Black Sea. Bulgaria shares borders to the north with Romania, to the east with the Black Sea, to the south with Turkey and Greece, and to the west with Macedonia and Serbia. Construction started in 1952, finished in 1954. This bridge is located 307 kilometres (191 mi) downstream and before 2013 it was the only other bridge across the Danube border that Bulgaria shares with Romania. The bridge connecting it to the capital of Romania, Bucharest, is only 45 miles (75 km) away, and makes it a popular weekend destination with the inhabitants of the Romanian capital. It is an extradosed bridge and was built by the Spanish company Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas, at the cost of €226 million. [22], Construction officially began on 13 May 2007 in Vidin in the presence of Bulgarian Prime Minister Sergei Stanishev and Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe Erhard Busek. 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